OJUDE OBA: Beyond The Glamour
By Gbenga Shokefun,
The unique Festival Ojude Oba has become a global event, where sons and daughters of Ijebu land in Ogun State Nigeria, Converge three days after Eid- Kabir, a Muslim festival.
The Ojude Oba has become a festival people look forward to attending beyond Ijebuland, globally people within Nigeria and outside, even foreigners attend.
Gbenga Sokefun, a Lawyer, and an author of international repute, a son of Ijebu Ode from the prominent Oworu and Mafe families told his story “As far back as I can remember I had heard stories of ,Ojude Oba. My mother told us stories of how being a Christian family, they were forbidden from participating in the festival.
” It became pseudo melancholic albeit a phantom of my imagination and it was easy to include it in my literary work,
Adigun, published by Europe books and sold globally. Ojude Oba was very reminiscent in my second chapter describing a village called Jobore and the festival “ Odewole”.
“Yes it actually jolted my literary juices when writing Adigun. I could not wait to Join the Regberegbe, the desire fueled by stories my mother told of her favorite cousin, elder Yomi Mafe. He would damn the consequences and follow the Ojude Oba procession as a child.
Uncle Yomi Mafe would always come home from Ojude Oba to meet with very grave consequences that included sore buttocks.
Fast forward half a century, Ojude Oba has become all inclusive, bridging the dividing gap between Islam, Christianity and traditional religion. I joined the Jagunmolu Fehintade Akile ijebu, one of the age grade group that featured those born between 1967 and 1965. .This group was religion neutral and an amazing blend of people from various professions. It was community development focused and the social capital it brought was immeasurable.
Participation at the Ojude Oba procession was voluntary as it came with a cost. Participation was significant for me as I actually brought Ojude Oba concept to live in my book Adigun. It was my own way of presenting the colorful African culture and tradition of togetherness to the world. Ojude Oba I must confess inspired that chapter. The book Adigun has a main theme of cultural inclusion and tribal unity. The progenitor, Adigun, born of a Yoruba mother, an Igbo father and raised in the Fulani enclave speaking fluent Fulfulbe from an early age.
The book runs through the lives of two village boys , utilizing the power of African story telling to highlight the priceless beauty of the three aforementioned cultures. Adigun has been translated into French and Spanish and is available on Audio book across many platforms globally. It can be purchased in Nigeria at Rovingheights , Jazzhole and Glendora. Below is a short excerpt from the book Adigun
*It was December, a festive time for the community, and most of Jobore’s indigenes came home for the season. Ofcourse, no one could miss ‘Odewole’, the hunting festival
in which all the masquerades came out, carnival-style, to celebrate the return of Jobore’s hunters from their month-
long hunting expedition. During this time,
Jobore at-tracted visitors from all of the surrounding towns and villages. Their numerous drum ensembles alone were a
spectacle, the Talking Drums maintaining their conversations for days on end, the Iya Ilu and the Omo Ilu (the Mother of Drums and Baby Drum), bringing up the rear of every drum troupe.
The hunters were dressed in red Aso Oke, with several charms adorning their wrists. Some
dressed their dogs in the same, red Aso Oke material. The hilly topography of Jobore made it possible to watch several troupes simultaneously.
The kids would sit on the trees to watch, while the older teenagers preened, vying to win the competition for the best-dressed youth. Many
families went to bizarre lengths to dress their teenagers, as the prize included a large gourd of palm wine from the King’s very own wine tappers. This was also the begin- ning of the new wine season – the palm trees had been
untapped for a full year – and the trees were ready to bring forth the sweetest and most intoxicating palm wine.
Amid the hunting competitions, parading youth, and various dance displays by the hunters of Jobore, the elders engaged in some serious drinking. During this season, Jobore moved to an almost frantic rhythm, the continual thudding sound of yam being pounded blended with the drums to provide a percussive soundtrack to every activity. It was amazingly musical and the whole village seemed to dance to it; the red necked agama lizards’ nods seemed in synch with the pounding, as did the songs from the birds, frogs, and crickets. Even the snap of slingshots, as children used the
lizards for target practice, seemed dictated by the beat.
Their happy cries provided a chorus for the music as they tried to impress the hunters, they sought to emulate with their hunting prowess.
The highest point of the Odewole festival was the last day. At the King’s palace, Jobore’s well-dressed citizens cheered as the different groups, known as Legbe-Legbe, marched past the Oba’s canopy.
Each Legbe-Legbe represented a particular age group of the community, but the most eagerly awaited was the toddlers – a disorderly, tot-
tering band of children, two to five years old, clothed in their ceremonial Aso-Oke, dancing to the drums and waving their raffia flags when they got to the king’s royal pavilion. It was the only part of the march-past in which the king would rise, showing respect to the children. It
was believed that the spirit of the ancestors resided in these toddlers as they were pure, innocent, and without sin.
Jobore was known for very colorful masquerades, which usually followed right after the toddlers. The Abe masquerades always led, followed by the Gelede masquer-
ade. Things would rise to a climax when the Alapanshopa reached the royal canopy. They had a distinct dance rou- tine in which the masquerades energetically palpitate the air before them, elbows alternately flaring and
straightening as they popped their hands back and forth.
This was the grand finale, bringing the entire crowd to a frenzy of cheers, dancing, and drinking, during which the Oba would usually take his leave. The entire village went
to sleep for about 3 days after the festival. The markets were closed, and everyone stayed in to recuperate from the week-long fiasco.
So, as Christmas approached, Adigun awaited his peers’ return from secondary school with barely contained excitement. He could not sleep on the eve of their arrival from boarding school. Will they be the same? He won-
dered, trying to figure out whether they would remember how to climb trees and set a chicken’s tail on fire.
He missed them. Morning came, the rising sun setting the Neem tree alight like a Christmas tree, and the cocks crowed louder than they usually did. The Yellow Robins chirruped, singing their welcome song….
For more, Please Get your copy of the book *ADIGUN*