The legend in “Cash Madam”- By Pade Olapoju
3 min read
Chief Edebisi Edionseri a.k.a. Cash Madam of blessed memory
Growing up, I loved Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s music. I still love him and his music, especially his golden oldies.
So, when he waxed an album praising the late Chief Bisi Edionseri, calling her ‘Cash Madam’, I became more interested in who this woman of means was.
Legend had it that at a time, she was the richest woman in Yorubaland. There was this unconfirmed story about her to confirm her enormous wealth. It goes thus:
Cash Madam had come in late from one of her numerous social engagements. She was so tired that she just managed to undress and climb to bed. In under 30 minutes, she was fast asleep. And it was a taboo to wake Mama up whenever she was sleeping.
But around 3 a.m., boys of the underworld came visiting, shooting sporadically and causing commotion inside her compound, and Cash Madam was rudely woken up!
When she peeped from her balcony and saw the situation, she told her frightened aides to open the door for the armed robbers to come in. When the fully armed boys came in, Mama calmly asked them what they wanted. Almost in unison, they replied: “We want money and we’re here to rob you”.
Cash Madam was said to have scolded the boys saying they shouldn’t have disturbed her neighborhood or harassed her and her household with guns and dangerous weapons.
What she did next totally disarmed the bandits. She asked them what they would like to eat and drink, instructing her maids to prepare food and give them whatever drinks they wanted. Then she signalled to two of their leaders to follow her to her room.
In her expansive room were arrays of wardrobes. She showed the leaders of the hoodlums what was inside each wardrobe. One was filled with expensive clothes, the other filled with gold and another filled with — you guessed right — cash!
She told them to take (steal) whatever caught their fancy and should stop disturbing her sleep. She bid them goodnight and made to go into the inner room to sleep.
The two heads of the thieves looked at themselves and one after the other prostrated, begging for forgiveness from Mama, asking her to give them whatever pleased her. She went into the wardrobe filled with money and threw to them bundles of cash and then she went to bed.
The thieves begged Mama’s household to plead to her on their behalf after eating and drinking to their satisfaction and then left.
I cannot attest to whether this is a true story as I never had the opportunity to meet or interview Cash Madam before she passed on.
But like great men and women, her legend lives on, even after her death.
May Cash Madam’s soul rest in peace.
Mr ‘Pade Olapoju is an editor and publisher of a digital, general news magazine; www.zapexpress.com.ng
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