From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The ancient town of Ire-Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, was full of excitement, dance and abuzz with music on Sunday, August 3rd, as sons and daughters of the community, indigenes and non-indigenes of the state, and enthusiasts within and outside the country thronged to the community to celebrate Ogun Onire festival.
Indigenes of Ire-Ekiti and thousands of visitors dressed in beautiful attire were seen in different parts of the streets and quarters of the community celebrating the festival.
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The festival featured dancing, singing, wining and dining and shooting of dane guns, among other activities, which made the event colourful and lively.
Speaking at the event, the Onire of Ire-Ekiti, HRM, Oba (Dr) Victor Adeleke Bobade, said, “Ogun Onire festival is an annual cultural celebration and it is celebrated in August of every year.
“Ogun festival is celebrated across towns, villages and communities all over Nigeria, but that of Ire-Ekiti is very special and unique and cannot be compared to all others.
“Today’s celebration is a very huge tourism festival and it has been very eventful and colourful. Our sons and daughters are here, and people from within Ekiti State, Nigeria and outside the country are here too, witnessing the festival.
“Ogun is the father of Ire. Ogun made Ire. He was not a king, but his only son, Ogundahunsi, became a king in Ire, and I am one of the descendants.
“We cannot do without Ogun in Ire-Ekiti because Ogun is the one who made what is happening in Ire today. Ogun Onire is a mandate. It is a festival that the people look forward to every year. When I came on the throne, the town was not like this before. All that you are seeing today, I made it happen.
“Ogun Onire is now worldwide. Abuja Monument sent a message to us that now we have to address the festival as World Ogun Onire Festival. So, it is now becoming international. This is not my making. We thank God for everything, and today, Ire is progressing.”
Oba Bobade appealed to the Ekiti State and federal governments to invest in the festival to harness its tourism potential and make the place where the Ogun entered the earth a tourism site, to attract more tourists from within and outside the country and further enhance the economy of the town and the state.
In his remarks, the State’s Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Prof. Rasaki Ojo Bakare, said the festival is a cultural tourism that will help to bolster the economy of the community and the state at large.
“This is a very huge tourism festival. Of course, we know that our strength in tourism is cultural tourism. And talking about cultural tourism, one thing that drives cultural tourism is festival and Ekiti is the festival capital of the world. I have said that everywhere I went because I don’t know a single subnational that has the number of festivals that Ekiti State has.
“So, it is important for us to develop these festivals so as to drive traffic to Ekiti State in terms of tourism and that is good business and that is why I am here as the Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy for the state to be part of the festival this year and to continue to work on this project to make sure that Ekiti State continues to benefit optimally from it.
“I come here every year as a Commissioner and our relationship with Ire people and the community has assisted in fine-tuning and in removing impurities from the festival so that now it can become a true tourism festival that drives the creative economy for the good of Ekiti State and her people.”
The Commissioner continued, “Also, spiritually, the people feel fulfilled when they do this. Again, that is good for the state, especially in terms of security. When the people are happy, when the people have a festival they look forward to every year, when the people have a project like this that gives them spiritual satisfaction, then psychologically people are balanced and that is good for security and that is good for the general social environment as far as the state is concerned.”
Responding to the plan of the state government to make Ogun Onire a tourism festival, he said, “It is not a plan, it is already happening.
“That is why when you go to the street and you see thousands of people that are here now, are they living in Ire? No! Thousands of people come here on a day like this. So, it is no longer a plan; it is already happening.
“Even as I am here, I am communicating with Abuja. Some of the parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy are having people coming to witness this. I am on the phone communicating with them, they are on their way. So, you have people, indigenes, non-indigenes, and even indigenes of Ire who don’t come home to be part of this, so that is domestic tourism, it is already driving traffic.”
On his part, the President of Ire-Ekiti Progressive Union (IPU), Engr. Ayodeji Abe said Ogun Onire is a festival that unites the people of the community and also attracts people from other places to the town. He added that it is a festival that brings blessings and good things.
“Ogun Onire festival is a festival that aggregates the populace, the sons and daughters of Ire-Ekiti, as well as other people. A lot of people are in Ire today and all the hotels and houses are fully occupied.
“I believe there is a spirit behind Ogun Onire that brings people together in unity. It is a festival of blessings and it is becoming worldwide. People travelled from different parts of the country and outside for this festival.”
The post Ekiti agog as community celebrates Ogun Onire festival appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
