Why we left Cote d’ivoire to celebrate Ileya Festival in Ejigbo, Osun State

This year’s Ileya Festival (Eid al-Adah) was a celebration with a difference in Ejigbo town. Since Wednesday night, August 7, indigenes of Ejigbo from Abidjan and northern part of Nigeria began to stream into the ancient town for the celebration. The community was awake with the large turnout of people, predominantly Muslims who came into the country for the annual festival.

Findings by Saturday Tribune showed that in all, a total of 20 luxury buses ferried passengers from the Ivorian capital down to Ejigbo between Wednesday and early Saturday morning of last week in anticipation of the big celebration. According to the Secretary, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), International branch at Ejigbo Evangelist Ayodele Balogun, each of the luxury buses plying Abidjan-Ejigbo route has 70-passenger capacity. This implies that close to 2,000 indegenes of Ejigbo living in Abidjan travelled down for the celebration.

Hundreds of others were said to have travelled down to the town from the north for the Ileya festival apart from many others who came from other parts of the country. The influx of people into the ancient community this year is described by many as record breaking because the number outstripped the initial projections by both the local and international transporters in the town.

A Facebook user called Ayanfe Eledumare, an indigene of Ejigbo, in apparent frenzy of the large influx of people into the town, wrote on his wall: “How I wish that the National Population Commission could come to Ejigbo now (for headcount) …About 100 luxurious buses (just) entered Ejigno.”

When interviewed, Evangelist Balogun said: “We were intrigued by the number of people that travelled to Ejigbo this year from Ivory Coast. Although we did not keep the records of past years, the number of travellers this year is really impressive to us as our vehicles were busy moving passengers down to Ejigbo for Ileya. Our park was busy and that was a good development and we wish for a repeat of it on a yearly basis.

“There is usually a large turnout of people who come for celebrations in Ejigbo but the number is always explosive during Ileya. Last week, we were busy moving passengers and it was a productive week for us. Although, unlike the way transportation fare was hiked during festivity period in Nigeria, we did not hike prices on the Abidjan-Ejigbo route, we made good money last week.”

He said transportation fare from Ejigbo to Ivory Coast is N20,000 if paying in naira or cfa 35,000 if paying in Ivorian currency.

Ramon Muraina, one of those who came for Ileya from Ivory Coast, said the Muslim festival was a time when he and many other indigenes of Ejigbo look out for because apart from the Ileya celebration, it provided an opportunity to visit home. He said at this time, many sons and daughters of Ejigbo from the neighbouring African country travel home to see family and friends.

Said Ramon: “It is an exciting time to come to Ejigbo from Ivory Coast. In fact, any opportunity to travel down home is always good but this period is special because we usually have mass movement down home from diaspora. Our people at home are always eager to see us just as we look forward to seeing them. Like many others, I see Ileya period as time to visit my people at home. It is usually interesting because both Christians and Muslims take advantage of the period.”

A young lady who gave her name simply as Misitura, said that Ejigbo is usually like a Mecca of sort at the time of Ileya as a result of the large turnout of people. She said that “During the period, some of our friends from Ivory Coast offer to travel down home with us because the preparations usually come with a frenzy that attracts everybody to Nigeria. So, beyond the festival, it has the social and economic angles to it.”

According to her, it is a time most people choose the opportunity to buy  gift items like plates, bowls, mats, grinding stones, pots and dresses from Abidjan at the Ejigbo Market.

NURTW Chairman, Ejigbo branch 1, expressed happiness on the large  turnout of people in the town during the celebration. He said that it was a period of boom for local transporters because of the increase in movement. “We had good turnover during Ileya festival because local movements of people in and out of town were high. We like that trend to continue because it gave us economic prosperity.”

Although most of those who came from other parts of the country have already returned to their stations, it was learnt that majority of the people of Ejigbo who came from Ivory Coast are still in town. Findings showed that this is so because many of them travel home only once in a year and seize the opportunity to spend few weeks with family members before returning to their base.

The Iyaloja of Ejigbo,  Chief Janet Oguntola, said that there was a boom in trade during the Ileya period. “This is because many of our people come home and naturally when they are around they buy things in the market. Many of them who are traders also bring their products to sell to us at the period so we always wish that this should continue.”

The people of Ejigbo are predominantly  farmers and traders as commonly found in many other agrarian communities in the country. For the people of Ejigbo, however, the agelong relationship with Abidjan in Ivory Coast has carved a niche for them in trading just as it impacts their social life. Over the years, Ivory Coast has become a home to people of Ejigbo many of whom sparsely come to Nigeria.

Nowadays, Ileya and Christmas times are the only periods when they travel home. For these indegenes of Ejigbo who make Ivory Coast their second home, wherever one finds peace and means of survival is home and coming to Nigeria once or twice a year is big fun that they would not want to miss.