The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja 11), has said the annual Olojo festival in Ile-Ife has attained a global brand, attracting different nationalities, outside the shores of Nigeria, who usually throng the ancient city to witness its celebration.
Speaking in his palace, located in Oduduwa House during a media launch for the this year Olojo festival, scheduled to hold on the 30th of September, 2017, the monarch said no nation can develop without its traditional culture, just as he described Olojo as “the dawn of creation of the Almighty”.
According to Oba Ogunwusi, “if you go to China and India, their cultures and traditions are closely linked to their developments”, maintaining that “in Ile- Ife, Olojo is the day that God created this world. It is only in Ile-Ife that it is being celebrated in the world it is the first and traditional festival that is significant to human creation and the epicenter of the world is in Ile-Ife. It has to do with the celebration of the Almighty God”.
He continued, “It is the day all the creation converge and the melting point is the sacred Are crown. It is the creation that brought about the entire world, the kingship. The creation of the new dawn and the very first day in the world is what we are launching today, the climax would be on the 30th September, 2017”
“All the divine spirits would converge, with the critical divine spirit that gave way to other spirits and everything. That is Ogun, the god of iron. Ogun is the link and root and it is called pathfinder deity. The festival is sacred and spiritual, that is the day the crown comes out. The spectrum of rainbow is called Osumare. It is the bunch we have inside and outside are crown, it depicts the colour of Africa, the black race is linked to multiple colours. Olojo is a global brand”, Oba Ogunwusi asserted.
While cautioning against the demonisation of Yoruba culture and tradition, the monarch said “the demonisation of our culture, custom and tradition by some people is stunting our growth and we should all rise up to stop this act because it is inimical to our interest”.
Describing Olojo as a unique festival that gave birth to other festivals, Oba Ogunwusi emphasised that “what we are celebrating is the very first day that God said let there be light and there was light. This fact is contained in the Holy Bible, Holy Quran and other religious books in the world. This happened in Ile-Ife and you can’t get it anywhere else in the world”.
He further stated that “we have another logo that is linked to Olojo festival. It is the same logo concept for last year and it’s going to be the same. It is just an improved version of the logo. Our position is the unity of Yoruba, we in Ile-Ife are the custodian of culture and migration from Yorubaland that goes to establish other settlements in the world. Olojo is a unifying festival. It is one Yoruba, one source and one festival.
Oba Ogunwusi, however, enjoined all the residents and natives of Ile-Ife to “exhibit good conduct and shun any act of violence that jeopardize peaceful celebration of Olojo. The whole world are coming to watch us and participate in the festival”.
