1st November, 2012
Annually, the people of Ijebu converge on Ijebu-Ode town two days after the Muslim festival, Eid-el-Kabir, to commemorate their age-long socio-cultural carnival tagged Ojude Oba.
The highlight of the festival is the horse race usually among families in the ancient city.
Irrespective of their religious affiliation, Ijebu sons and daughters at home and those in the diaspora return to their ancestral home to celebrate Ojude Oba. The festival dates back to over a hundred years when the reigning Awujale, Oba Afidipote, introduced it. His subjects paid homage to him after the Eid-El-Kabir celebrations. It has since become an annual event when Ijebu people pay homage to the Awujale, the paramount ruler of Ijebuland.
To add grandeur to the main event, different age groups perform with well decorated horses where winners emerge. In the last few years, telecommunication giant, Globacom had sponsored the festival with millions of naira. Counting on the unflinching support of its Chief Executive Officer, Chief Mike Adenuga, GCON, also an Ijebuman, Globacom this year added monetary reward to the horse riding competition.
The family of the second Balogun of Ijebuland, the late Balogun Adeshoye on Sunday emerged the winner of this year’s Ojude Oba festival horse riding competition among the Baloguns in Ijebuland.
After a scintillating performance by over 12 horse-riding families in Ijebu Ode, the Adeshoye family was adjudged by the organisers as the winner of the event. He beat the Balogun Kuku and Balogun Asotemaru families to the second and third positions respectively.
The winner went home with a cash prize of N300,000 while the families who placed second and third went home with N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.
A source from the official sponsor of the Ojude Oba festival, Globacom told our correspondent that the decision to add the cash prize to the gifts for the horse riding competition is to bring back the lost glory of horse riding which has been the major event that attracts people from all walks of life to Ijebu Ode, the ancestral home of Awujale and the Ijebu for the festival.
According to the source, “this innovation is aimed at bringing back the razzmatazz the horse riding in the past gave to Ojude Oba which was gradually fading away. We want the Balogun families to take the horse riding more seriously as it was in the past, rather than see it as just a hobby. By God’s grace, we will increase the cash prize by next year and I can assure you that the event will become more glamorous.”
Another event that added pep to the festival is the parade by age groups, which is a unifying force for all sons and daughters of Ijebu both at home and in the diaspora.
The parade in the male and female categories were won by the Olugbadebo age group (1935-1937) and the pet of His Majesty, the Arobayo group (1968-1970) with a cash prize of N750,000 each.
The second positions in each category went to the Bobagbuyi age group (1941-1943) and Obafuwaji (1950-1952) with a cash prize of N500,000 while the third position went to the Mafowoku age group which belongs to the group of the Awujale of Ijebuland in the male category and the Bobajolu (Basiri group) 1947-1949 won in the third category. They both went home with N250,000 each.
Senate President, Senator David Mark who was the special guest of honour said it might be the last to be held in Ogun State because he was in full support of calls for the creation of states including Ijebu state which according to him will bring more unity and strength to the country.
“I have received many committees on Ijebu state and I have seen a lot of documents in respect of that. I support the creation of Ijebu and more states in this country. My brothers and sisters here today, let me tell you this, I will be coming to Ojude Oba festival regularly, when I will be coming next year, I will not come in the capacity of the Senate President and will not sit on the top here with his majesty. I will come as a son of the soil, as someone who has contributed to the creation of Ijebu state and I will be glad to see that day,” he said.
“Cultural diversity in this country needs to be looked into and something must be done to restore unity to this country.This kind of festival should be our source of unity, we need to understand ourselves and believe in ourselves. With over 250 backgrounds, cultures and ethnicity, we don’t have any alternative than to keep to the unity of this state,” Mark stated.
In his address, Governor of Ogun state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun thanked God for the life of the monarch who has been away for the past four months, while rumours had been making the rounds that he had passed on.
The governor also explained the importance of the festival to the growth and unity of the state, saying, “the Ojude Oba represents the rich culture, dynamic tradition and accommodating spirit of our people. This is because history tells us that the festival started with an Islamic cleric, alongside members of his family, paying a courtesy call on the Awujale as a way of showing appreciation to the traditional ruler for allowing Islam to grow peacefully in Ijebu Ode. Today, the festival has become a socio-cultural event which exemplifies the unity of our people in Ogun despite the religious diversity. It also represents the fact that our people have a great sense of religious tolerance and that we all live in peace with one another while demonstrating a passion for community development. Ojude Oba is one of the best advertisements for our culture in Ogun and is a prominent feature in the national cultural calendar. That is why it is annually witnessed by people from all walks of life across the country and beyond.”
Amosun confirmed that the presence of the Senate President, Senator David Mark at this year’s festival symbolises the national significance that Ojude Oba has acquired over the years.
The governor used the medium to analyse some of his administration’s programmes and plans for the state, especially to the Ijebu axis of the state. “It is my pleasure to inform you that apart from the fact that our Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the first to be created in the 36 years history of our state, is playing a key role in the organisation of the Ojude Oba festival, our administration has also ensured that we have easy movement of persons, goods and services in Ijebu Ode and its environs during and after today’s celebration.
“In the past 15 months that we have been in office, our administration has consistently sustained the ‘Operation Zero Tolerance for Potholes’ and Ijebu Ode has benefited significantly. We have regularly maintained the roads in the metropolis and the adjoining communities and I am sure you all had a smooth ride to this venue.
“Our administration recently completed the reconstruction work on Saka Ashiru and Fassy Yusuf roads, we have also ensured that Ijebu Ode will be a beneficiary of one of the 12 modern roads that will be constructed in compliance with what we call ‘The Ogun Standard’ in terms of their sophistication and accompanying road furniture. I am talking of the 9-kilometre Benin expressway junction-Folagbade-Ibadan road which will now be extended to six lanes with a flyover bridge, a median which will have flower plants, walkways, drainage channel and street lights,” he said.
The governor added: “Messrs CCECC, have been mobilised but they are yet to move to site because, as is customary with our road construction projects, we must sort out the compensation process and ensure that our people whose properties will be affected by the road expansion are adequately compensated before work could commence.
“We have carried out desilting work on major drains at Ita Ale market, Degun street, Awokoya area, Oyingbo roundabout while we have constructed drain channels to deflood Osinubi street/St. Anthony Nursery School junction, all within Ijebu Ode township and same have also been done in Sagamu area. Our efforts have been compensated by the fact that despite the heavy rainfall and the resultant unfortunate flood disasters witnessed in our country, this year, we, in Ogun State have experienced minimal flooding.
Dignataries at this year’s event include, Ogun Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun, wife to the state governor, Mrs. Funsho Amosun, Senators Gbenga Ashafa, Iyiola Omisore, Gbenga Kaka and Gbenga Obadara, the Deputy Speaker in the state House of Assembly, Tola Banjo, the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to the governor on Water Resources, Engr. Kunle Otun, captains of industry and diplomats.
—Abiodun Onafuye