Photos: How Ojude Oba Festival Showcases Beauty Of Yoruba Culture

While Muslims were celebrating their annual Eid-Al-Kabir festival, natives of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, were celebrating their annual festival, Ojude Oba, a festival that celebrates and pays respect to the Awujale of Ijebuland. Like every year, the Ijebu’s did it in style with a variety of high-end traditional materials on display and accessories that showcased the beauty of the Yoruba culture.

Ojude Oba, which directly translates to the ‘majestic outing’ was formerly a small gathering of Muslims in the 18th century, as a way for the early music converts to appreciate the Awujale for granting them permission to practice their religion freely. This started during the reign of Awujale Ademiyewo Afidipotemole in 1878.

Alli-Tubogun, who was a slave under the Awujale, had received the King’s support to fully practise his religion and with that endorsement the religion started growing in that region with many converts and mosques emanating as a result of the King’s approval.

However, an incident in 1896 led to the festival as a chief, Balogun Kuku, who was once a Christian, relinquished the religion because they were restricted to keeping only one wife out of all the wives they had married earlier. As a result, Chief Balogun Kuku embraced Islam, and his influence led to more converts. The chief reportedly had over 30 wives and 200 slaves.

Unable to practise the Odeda Festival held annually by traditional worshippers, Chief Balogun Kuku replaced the festival with the Ita-Oba festival, which later became the Ojude Oba festival that has become a tourist attraction for people around the world.

The Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Olusegun Runsewe, said that the Ojude Oba festival has boosted tourism in Nigeria.

“Yesterday, I was so happy that at the airport, over 3,500 Nigerians came back home because of the Ojude Oba festival. This has continued to make the festival a global one,” he said.

The Ojude Oba festival is held the third day after Eid al-Kabir, and this year, the outfits, the accessories, and the sheer show of culture have captured the eyes of young Nigerians as videos and images of the festival have gone viral.