Oke Maria: The sacred hilltop in Oka Akoko

The Oke Maria hilltop in Oka Akoko is a pilgrimage and tourist centre, especially for prayers. Hakeem Gbadamosi visited the hilltop to find out what makes it a sacred land.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”

Among the unique characteristics which particularly manifest in Catholic faithful is the honor and devotion of the Catholic Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ. This might be one of the reasons the Oke Maria hill in Oka Akoko in Akoko South -West Local Government Area of Ondo State came into being as there was no link between the Holy Mary hill and the history of Oka Akoko community.

Visiting the less than three kilometre hill top of Oke Maria, for the first timer, is not a child’s play as one needs to take a break along the journey to the mountain top in at least one or two resting places. But despite this, visitors keep thronging the hill which sacred, where prayers are answered and solutions are provided to most challenges.

Speaking on the origin of Oke Maria site and how it care a tourist attraction and pilgrimage, a member of the St. Patrick Catholic Church, Oka Akoko and the chairman of Parents’  Association of St. Maryhill Group Of Schools, Mr. Alphonso Olu Amuleya, who took Nigerian Tribune correspondent around the hill explained that the hill was pronounced sacred about a century ago.

Amuleya said, “This place came into being some hundred years ago by a young missionary named Dominic Akinjogunla, a native of Afo in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo state. This young man brought Catholicism to the area and lighten the Akoko community with the faith.

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“But in 1916, he invited a priest, Rev. Father Seminati, who came all the way from Lokoja to Oka Akoko and found the place quiet for prayer and meditation. He spent some few days on the mountain praying and received some inspiration while he saw an apparition in form of Holy Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ”

According to him, from the report he heard,  the apparition was a one-off thing but Seminati marked the spot and pronounced it sacred and people started coming to the place to pray and receive blessings and healings. He  said the apparition site was marked to make the place sacred, and it is where the statue of Holy Mary stands today.

With the site constantly being visited by Catholic faithful , they saw the need to build  houses and worship centre within the area and the first and oldest structure at the bottom of the mountain is about 100 years today. Built with rocks and stones, which now houses the parish priest and his assistant, and also accommodates other domestic staff.

Apart from this, Amuleya revealed that the Catholic started to develop the area and attempted to build a small chapel on the mountain top. The structure which was constructed with solid rock still stands at the mountain till today but without roof. He said they had made several attempts to roof the structure but said a church was built at the bottom of the hilltop.

He however said “In December 1974, the whole diocese gathered to place the statue at the site of apparition and consecrate the hill as a place of prayer. It has since then become an international Marian Pilgrimage Centre”

The Oke Maria hill became an annual pilgrimage centre to Catholic and non-Catholic, especially every February.  Amuleya said  the site since then plays host to a national pilgrimage where visitors from Nigeria and abroad come to pay homage to the Blessed Virgin every second week of February. But other people usually visit the place day in day out apart from the annual pilgrimage in February.

When our reporter inquired from him ‘Father’s House’ the February for the pilgrimage,  he said there was no special attachment but that the hill and its environs is quite cold  especially during the rain season but dry in February.

Apparently from this, February was chosen for the main pilgrimage of the year because it coincides with the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes which takes place around the 11th following her apparition in France.

Amuleya noted that the existence of the shrine may not have drawn more souls to the Roman Catholic fold but it has brought about more devotees to the Blessed Virgin with  people visiting the place from all over the world.

Amuleya  said: “Some group of people were here sometime ago, giving testimonies to the power of God.

These people are from the Redeemed Christian of God with one of them   saying she came to the shrine the previous year to ask the Blessed Virgin to intercede for her in her prayers for the fruit of the womb with a promise to come back and appreciate God.

And truly, she returned to the hill to appreciate God for answering her prayers”

He explained that people don’t visit the site to worship Holy Mary but to pray to God through His son, Jesus Christ; and since Mary is the mother of Jesus, they pray through her to intercede for them.

He disclosed that people visit the site almost every night for vigils and to pray saying “even those who are non-Catholics or even non-Christians visit this place. It is not restricted and we never discriminate against anybody”

On the hill top, Nigerian Tribune met some visitors who had come to pray on the mountain, Most of them faced the statue of Holy Mary and prayed for hours, while some of them were said to have spent the night at the place despite the cold weather and the rain.

One of them who spoke with our reporter, Mrs Vivian Sunday, said “I usually come here to seek the face of God and His blessing through Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus, and my prayers have been answered times without number and i know this will not be an exception”

A member of the Catholic Church in the town, Joseph Asiwaju, noted that a lot of development had taken place since the discovery of Oke Maria, but said the church needs money to further develop the place.

According to him, the Oke Maria has become a reference point to many people, whether Catholic or not. It has become a rallying point and the proper facilities  should be put in place to make the place a retreat centre.

Asiwaju said, “The church under the Most Rev. Dr. Jude Arogundade, Bishop of Ondo Diocese, has started  working on a master-plan to locate hostels, chalets and other facilities to make this place a real  pilgrimage site. An altar is already being constructed and is in use in the dry season with other facilities that will make it a more attractive location to encourage people to stay for as long as they want”

A resident of Oka Akoko, Mr. Johnson Amodu, said the annual pilgrimage to Oke Maria usually contributes to the economy of the hilly town. He noted that visitors spend money on variety of things which contributes to the economy of the people of the town and its environs.

He, however, lamented that lodging has always been an impediment to the visitors,noting that there are no standard hotels for visitors to lodge. He said most of the visitors sleep in Akungba Akoko and Ikare during this period, but called on the various organisations and individual to invest in the town.

“Many of them might not see a need for it, but the Oka Akoko Development Association can embark on such project. Large number of people across all walks of life enter this town during the annual pilgrimage and the number keeps growing.”

A petty trader, Mofolashade Ilesanmi, said “we are always looking forward to the annual celebration of Holy Mary at Oke Maria. We stock our shops with various goods and we usually experience boom in our sales.”

She said apart from the annual events, some visitors frequently visit the place in their number too especially during weekends but noticed that their number had reduced drastically. She attributed this to the insecurity in the area. She recalled a number of people had been abducted in the Akoko area in the past few years and said “this had reduced the traffic of tourists to Oke Maria, because you can visit here to use millions of Naira to buy your freedom if kidnapped”

She called on the government to put an end to the insecurity in the area, “the present administration has put smiles on the our faces with the construction of Oka Akoko dangerous road which had claimed many lives in the past, but they must also put an end to kidnapping and robbery in the area”

Another resident of the town, Dele Ajayi, stressed the need for the state government to collaborate with the church to develop the pilgrimage site urging the government to take a cue from Saudi Arabia. He said

“ the government of Saudi Arabia are promoting Islam as a cardinal agenda of the country’s foreign policy not exclusively out of religious belief but the fact that the more people convert to Islam, the more people would travel down for pilgrimage.

“That explains the economic aspect of promoting the religion. Saudi Arabia is generating nothing less than $8.4 billion annually from Hajj and Umrah. This excludes other non-religious visits by tourists”

But Amuleya said the church had been trying to make life comfortable for tourists, disclosing that a modern Altar which was started by Bishop Alonge had gulped over N1b is being constructed.

He said this is designed to make the environment more attractive and encourage people to stay as long as they want but see no need for government intervention saying this is a sacred place. Though he noted that the center has immense economic value to the community  as it contributes not only to the local economy but also the state with the influx of people from all parts of the world.

Nigerian Tribune