Ojude Oba festival

The tradition & historical record

Ojude Oba (The King's Forecourt) is an ancient festival, celebrated by the Yoruba people of Ijebu-Ode, a major town in Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria. This annual festival usually takes place the third day after Eid al-Kabir (Ileya), to pay homage and show respect to the Royal Majesty, the Awujale of Ijebuland. It is one of the most spiritual and glamorous festivals celebrated in Ijebuland and generally in Ogun State as a whole. During the course of the festivities, different cultural age groups known as regberegbe composed of indigenes, their friends, and associates far and near parade at the front courtyard of the king's palace on the third day of Eid al Kabir popularly referred to as "Ileya" in Yoruba language. Oba Adetona was the one that brought back the age groups in the 18th century into the general acceptable phenomenon that is found among today's Ijebus, and this has become an integral part of the yearly Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu. The reason for the age groups was to bring development and progress to the community. Ojude Oba which means king's fore-court in Yoruba language is usually celebrated with Pomp and pageantry by about 1,000,000 people from different parts of the world and Nigeria, especially those from Yoruba origin and most especially by people of Ijebu descent all over the world. ¹

Ojude Oba which represents "the King's fore-court or frontage", could also be translated as “Majestic outing”. During the reign of Awujale Ademuyewo Afidipotemole in 1878, a slave identified as Alli who later became Alli-Tubogun began open practice of Islam. He received his master's blessing to practice his religion without any barrier, obstruction and fear of any persecution. Due to this one-man effort coupled with the endorsement of his master, Islam began to grow, attracting so many converts and by 1880, local mosques were built at many wards in Ijebu-Ode. In 1896, an incident and drama occurred on 27 September, when two reverends, Rev. R.A Conner and Rev. E.W George baptised 41 Ijebu-men with their proclamation to keep just one wife out of the many they had earlier married. This incident caused a chief whose name was identified as Chief Balogun Kuku, a prominent Ijebu son to relinquish Christianity and to embrace Islam which encourage polygamy because he had over thirty wives, over 200 slaves and other ardent followers. The chief's extreme wealth coupled with the respects the Ijebus had for attracted many converts to Islam. Ojude Oba festival is a successor of the Odeda festival, which was also an annual event in which the worshippers of several traditional religions such as Sango, Egungu, Osun, Ogun, Yemule and so on come together to showcase their identities by dancing in turns to drums and songs in front of the Awujale, Olisa, various other important chiefs and the people of the town. Chief Balogun Kuku, who was a party to the Odeda festival until he converted to Islam could no longer participate in the festival and then he decided to replace the Odeda festival with a new one which will conform with his new religion. ¹

Ojude-Oba Festival is a one-day celebration of culture, fashion, glamour, candour, beauty and royalty as sons and daughters of Ijebuland. The festival always commenced with prayers by the Imam of Ijebuland, then followed by the National Anthem, then the Ogun State Anthem and the Awujale Anthem, and finally the Lineage praise of the Ijebus. After all of these, the parade of different ages known as Regbe regbe with names––such as Obafuwaji, Bobagbimo, Bobakeye, Gbobaniyi and Gbobalaye begins. This is the heart of the ceremony as each group with both male and female counterparts are distinct either in their manner of appearance and style of dressing or by their dance patterns. Some of the groups members are top managers, chief executive officers, head of industries and prominent traditional title holders. The groups each has a recognisable face, like the Gbobaniyi, a group of middle-age men, that dress in rich traditional Aso-Oke, wield walking sticks and dance like conquerors, has former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel as its patron, while the female Gbobaleye are noted for gaiety and dance and has as member the popular Waka music star, Queen Salawa Abeni. In straightforward terms, these groups files in turn by turn with their drummers to pay homage through their dance, and with presentation of gifts and offerings at the feet of the King. They pray for him, wishing him a peaceful tenure and long life. ¹

Different horse-riding families are led by the Balogun. Descendants of Ijebu war heroes are regarded as the Balogun. Some horse-riding families includes; Balogun Odunuga, Balogun Bello Odueyungbo Kuku, Balogun Agboola Alausa, Balogun Alatishe, Balogun Otubu, Balogun Adesoye, Balogun Odejayi, Balogun Adesoye Onasanya, Balogun Towobola, Balogun Aregbesola and Balogun Ajibike Odedina. Intermittent gunshot are used to announce their entry, which sends many people into a frenzy. ¹

One of the reasons why people from entirely different cultural backgrounds have an interest in the Ojude oba festival is because Art plays a very significant role in the festival, with the style and manner of dressing of the different age groups, the music and musical instrument, even to the design on the horses of the Balogun families, and more. ¹

Age grades compete for the best dressed. Hence, the reason why group go all out for the season's most expensive clothing. Attires from a previous festival cannot be worn again at a new Ojude Oba festival, they wear entirely different attires year to year which makes a statement on the economic status and wealth of the age group and how well they are doing. Arguably, nowhere else is the Yoruba flair for traditional attire better demonstrated than in the flamboyance at Ojude Oba. Traditionally, the favourite dress colours of the Yoruba people include; tan, the rich natural tone of the silk known as sanyan, and blue, ranging from the palest to the deepest blue black obtainable from the indigo dye pots. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ojude Oba festival”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Ojude Oba festival is annual homage by different age groups of Ijebu descent at their king's fore-court, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²