Odun Oba is an annual celebration that shakes the foundation of Ogbomoso as Ijeru descendants from far and wide come back home to celebrate. SUNDAY ADEPOJU reports the 180th Onpetu’s Odun Oba which took place at the weekend was a colourful display of culture, development, religion and history.
In less than two months, there were two spectacular events in Ijeru Kingdom in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. The first was the 20th coronation anniversary of the Onpetu of Ijeru Kingdom, Oba Sunday Oladapo Oyediran, Lagabmi Osekun III which was held last December amidst pomp and pageantry in appreciation of God’s mercy. And in what was not less than the previous celebrations in terms of crowd, the descendants of Oje in Ijeru Kingdom, Ogbomoso, both at home and in the Diaspora as well as dignitaries and other well wishers, including traditional rulers within and outside Ogbomoso, converged on Orile Oje last Saturday to celebrate the 180th edition of the popular annual Odun Oba.
Historically, upon assumption of the throne of his progenitors 20 years ago, Oba Oyediran, a devout Christian and evangelist, changed the mode of the annual event from worshipping a river to a revival-like event where testimonies of the goodness of God in the previous year are shared. It is now an event where different prayer requests are yearly offered by people of different religions coming under the voices of the monarch and other anointed men and women of God.
In the past, the event was purely for traditional worshippers to reference and worship the Oje River in Orile Oje, along Ife Odan road in Ogbomoso. At the junction leading to the Oje River where the event took place, one would think it would be the former traditional worship of the River as local hunters, with their local guns and traditional hunter’s uniform flooded the road leading to the venue. But on getting to the river behind which an auditorium has been erected, the sight is different, clergymen, including the representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), converged in large numbers.
And though the mode of worship has changed, it has in no way affected the crowd or underlying celebration of culture, religion, development, and unity of the Tokulojes – the descendants of Onpetu Kingdom scattered in the country and across the globe. The climax of the event was the blessing of the people at the event done by the Oba Oyediran in the Christian manner.
For this blessing, Oba Oyediran changed into his beaded crown (Ade Are), resembling that of Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yorubas in line with the culture of the land.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, Oba Oyediran said, “There is something special and unique about every Odun Oba. It is a festival in which people come to give testimonies of what God did in their lives in the last 12 months. We heard a testimony of somebody that brought her grandson, testifying about how God, through our prophetic declaration, three years back, made the daughter to conceive and give both to a baby boy. She brought back the boy today to show what God did through the festival. Somebody without a womb gave birth to a set of twins through God here at our Odun Oba Festival, not through any magical means, manipulation or any other power but by the power of Christ that did all those things. It is very unique and very special.”
There have been series of heated debates on the manner in which Oba Oyediran packages the Odun Oba, formerly celebrated as Odoje Festival, a worship of river idol. Oba Oyediran, in his characteristic manner, also clarified the misconceptions that people have about culture and religion, although religion may be subsumed under culture. He said, “What people call culture is not it. It is traditional religion and I cannot stop anybody from practising their own religion. I cannot stop a Babalawo from practising his religion, neither do I expect anybody to not pursue and practise their own religion and belief. So, whichever way you choose to express your appreciation to your own God; that is your religion. But our culture is the way we behave, greet, dress, eat and do things. I don’t want you to mix the two. What we are doing here is appreciating God Almighty over our lives in the last 12 months.”
Oba Oyediran who maintained that he chooses to worship God in line with his belief, adding that
I talked about African traditional religion. In this religion, the belief is in the existence of God. The only thing they don’t know is how to access that God. People now use different means, modes and methods to access the God they don’t know. They will now look for an intermediary; either they decide to worship a river (which we were doing in the past) or decide to create an object for themselves, like the people worshipping Ogun. In history, we were made to believe that Ogun was once a human being. But now, they’ve turned Ogun to an idol. Could that be called culture? No! Some people worship Sango. Sango was an Alaafin in Oyo. Is that culture? No! Some people believe in worshipping Oke Ibadan. Is it our culture? Oke Ibadan is a celebration of promiscuity. That is what they celebrate. What we used to celebrate here was the worshipping of idol, it is it not our culture but a religion.”
The climax of the festival of worship was the blessings and prophetic declarations of the Onpetu on descendants of the town. Here, culture was hybridised because Onpetu prayed for different sections of people ranging from the political class led by former Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao Akaka (represented by his wife, Kemi), the leaders, the Oje descendants, Ogbomoso indigenes, among others. In a manner of revival, Oba Oyediran called people who had prayer requests out and prayed for them. People rushed out to pray for babies, financial freedom, employment opportunities and admission into higher institution of learning among others.
Festivals are in line with development of communities and cities. There that plans in the pipeline to take the annual celebration to greater heights. He, however, cautioned again that people should not misconceive culture and religion. “Is Ojude Oba in Ijebu cultural? It was the thinking of an individual, Odutola, a prominent Ijebu. He travelled to London and his business partners were asking him why almost every successful man in Nigeria was bearing chieftaincy title and why his case was exceptional. And before he left, the Odutola and the then Awujale were not in good terms. He wanted a chieftaincy title. Awujale gave him a ridiculous one, Ogbeni Oja. That is the person that sweeps market to a person of Odutola. And Odutola was not angry. He took the chieftaincy title and he molded the title from being a mockery to a celebration. And that was instrumental to what is known today as Ojude Oba.
“Odun Oba will transcend the present celebration. What are they going to do in Mecca and Jerusalem? Somebody started it. So, what I’m doing today will become a Jerusalem, Mecca of tomorrow. When people begin to see what God is doing here, they will want to come and see. It is not everybody that will celebrate idolatry. The development of Ijeru land and Ogbomoso will come divinely. Mecca was developed divinely. Jerusalem was developed divinely. A single individual developed Dubai. So, what stops us from developing this place?”
Some of the traditional rulers that attended the festival are Aale of Okeelerin, Oba Samuel Amao; Oloolo of Oolo, Oba Michael Oyebunmi Ajayi; Alarolu of Arolu, Oba Hezekiah Olubayo Adedeji; Alaipo of Orile Aipo, Chief Ajadi; Baale Ibapon, Alhaji Ashifa; Onitapa. Speaking with Nigerian Tribune in separate interviews, monarchs like Oloolo and Alarolu showered encomia on Onpetu as a creative monarch and promoter of culture. Discarding the claim that Oba Oyediran negates the culture by neglecting the idols of the land, the Oloolo of Oolo in Oriire Local Government Area of Ogbomoso, Oba Michael Oyebunmi Ajayi (JP), Oyegbami IV.
The kings applauded the celebrant and described the idea as a good development worthy of emulation. They lauded the Onpetu for respecting the culture by going off the stage to put on the traditional crown, adding that “Onpetu, to me, never turns down the Yoruba culture. He went and changed to the crown when he wanted to bless people. At the venue, the use of traditional drums, dresses, hunters displaying their local guns and firing them in the air.”
Similarly, Alarolu of Arolu in Surulere Local Governmet Area of Ogbomoso, Oba Hezikiah Olubayo Adedeji, hailed the Onpetu for redefining the Odun Oba from Odoje Festival, adding that as an evangelist, Oba Oyediran is doing everything within his powers to develop his kingdom and people in the area of culture, development, and on establishing the reasons why people must move from darkness to light.
At the were Kemi Aloso Akala; Majority leader of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable (Prince) Sanjo Adedoyin; Minority leader, Honourables Asimiyu Alarape, Jacob Bamigboye, Oyeleke, Ezekiel Oyedepo. Others are the caretaker chairmen of Ogbomoso South Local Government, Mr Timothy Oyeniyi and his counterpart from Ogbomoso Southwest Local Council Development Area, Mr Damilare Amusan.
and then