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Trip to the Ojude-Oba Festival in Ijebu Ode
Thursday 12th January, 2006
The Ojude-Oba Festival takes place in Ijebu Ode on the 3rd day of Id-el-Kabir,
which follows the end of Ramadan. This year the festival fell on a working day, so our group was limited to those of us who are fortunate enough to have flexible working arrangements.
Twelve NFS members gathered at the old toll gate of the Lagos- Ibadan highway at 8 AM on a somewhat overcast Thursday morning .The group was led by a well known daughter-of-the-soil of Ijebu Ode, Betti-O.
Since Robert Warren was not there to spur us on to greater speeds, our convoy of four vehicles made its way at a relatively sedate rate to the Abeokuta turn off, and then branched off to Ijebu Ode, arriving at about 9: 30 AM.
Although the festival has its origins in Islam, it is in fact exuberantly celebrated by all of the citizens of Ijebuland, both Muslims and Christians. The festival started about 100 years ago when the first converted Muslims decided that it would be good politics to visit their King, the Awujale, to thank him for allowing them to practice their religion in peace, and also to give thanks for the continued prosperity of the town.
It is hard to describe the incredible atmosphere in the town, but I will try. The streets were festooned with banners, make-shift shops, small food stalls, bands blasting away behind piles of huge speakers, hawkers, peddlers, pick-pockets, men, women and children all good-naturedly flowing in a seething group towards the gates of the Awujale’s palace. We were more or less carried through the gates by a wave of humanity and then deposited in tact ( but missing a few Naira to pick-pockets ) in a large parade ground in front of the
palace.
It was as if we had arrived in a living advertisement for Globacom and Maltina. Everything that could be painted had been painted in Glo’s trade-mark
fluorescent green colour, and every place where a banner could be hung sported a Maltina flag.These products are the brain children of two of Ijebu Ode’s most successful business men, Dr. Mike Adenuda and Dr. Rasak Akanni Okoya.
We were very politely ushered into a comfortable viewing stand on the steps of the palace where we joined a select group of extremely well dressed men and women. The location afforded us a unique vantage point for watching the festivities as they unfolded in front of us.
What followed for the next seven exciting hours was a continuous parade of groups of wonderfully attired men and women,
who sang and danced their way past the Awujale, to whom they paid homage in different ways. Somehow they all made it up the steps and disappeared into the palace for an audience. Somehow they all made it back down the steps, still singing and dancing and waving things
(the group from Glo naturally waved florescent yellow plastic chairs!).
As the day wore on, more and more people entered the parade ground until it was absolutely packed with an undulating mass of good humoured, noisy and sweaty humanity. Then the men on horseback arrived.
The riders came out of nowhere and made their way through the throngs with muskets blasting, people dashing to and fro, a frenzy of horses and people mingled with the acrid smell of gunpowder. When the horsemen reached the palace steps, they twirled their horses quickly, forcing them to rear with people scattering in all directions, and then they dismounted to pay homage. Miraculously, no one was injured, and the horses seemed quite at ease with the
situation.
At about 5 PM, heat, hunger and thirst drove us to venture forth from the stands in search of a little relief. Once again Betti-O’s relations appeared at exactly the right moment to assist us and we squeezed our way through the crowd towards a back door to the palace. The door opened,
a throng of people tried to enter but were politely and firmly repelled, and we suddenly found ourselves in a very quiet courtyard within the palace. Our host took us through a second door and we entered an enormous banquet hall full of tables already set for dinner and laden with cold minerals and beer. The drinks, and the subsequent feast, were very welcome!
At about 6:30 PM, we emerged refreshed from the palace and were carried by the crowd through the palace gates and onto the street, where a giant party was just warming up for a night of festivities. The people were very friendly and the atmosphere was wonderful. We would have loved to have stayed, but the prospect of driving back to Lagos in the dark was not at all appealing.
In the event, we got stuck in a massive go-slow on the way home and did not reach the house until about 10:30 PM, tired but thrilled with the day’s events.
Many thanks to Betti-O for making this experience possible for us !
Hugh Campbell
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Lagos Branch
