Ojude Oba

Oude Oba festival - Ijebu women dancing
Ijebu women dancing during the annual Ojude Oba festival. Source: genevieveng.com

Ojude Oba is an annual celebration held on the third day of the Ed-El-Kabir festivity of Muslims in Ijebu Ode. It is one of the most popular events that take place in the life of the community, and it draws overwhelming crowds to Ijebu Ode. An account puts the origination of the festival in the time of the reign of Oba Fidipote, a non-Muslim king who presented a ram to his friend, Tunwatoba, the chief imam of Ijebu Ode, to celebrate the Ed-El-Kabir. Tunwatoba is said to have led a delegation of his family and friends to appreciate the Oba, inadvertently starting a tradition that will become the Ojude Oba festival. The festival was enhanced with the celebrated conversion of Balogun Kuku to Islam in 1902. The telecom company, Globacom, has been sponsoring the festival since the year 2006, thus internationalizing it.

Contributor:
Tope Apoola
Profession: Writer