It is time to remind ourselves that we have cultures and traditions to celebrate, to preserve”. In tow, they adored her, followed her closely as she marched elegantly within the large esplanade. In her stead also were some of her girls, boys inclusive, those she has nurtured and trimmed into the adire business and tradition over the years. Clad in her long overflowing trademark dress, Nike was flamboyant and dripping with tradition. As people moved to and fro in more or less carnival form, they ended up in front of the Oba paying obeisance to him.Ĭhief Nike Okundaye, Nigeria’s foremost culture expo and ambassador also spoke in the same vain. With this remarkable fatherly statement, the arena became more alive and festive. This is why I have chosen to tag this festival in June as the best throughout Nigeria”. It is not just to celebrate the yam festival, it is time to show love time for us to come together as a people. In the main, Oba Sule was grateful to the people of the town, friends, well-wishers, all, for their love, support and solidarity with the Ogidi people. This, the youths of Ogidi are conscious of hence the resolve to be alive in their celebrations and appreciation of what yam symbolizes. And when you celebrate it with aplomb, it rewards you double when the next season comes. It is a crop that respects and obeys those who are committed to it in time of planting, weeding and staking. It was good after all to respect and celebrate the god of yam, a wonderful crop that can suddenly make a poor but serious farmer, a big man. With their awful looking masquerades costumed in dry leaves of banana and plantain with an assortment of long green grasses, the masquerades bestrode the arena and vicinity with some kind of awful majestic presence. Consequently, they behaved well, dancing, drumming, clasping their hands all together. Incidentally, the theme of this year was solely devoted to the youths. They all smarted out in their best fashion, carriage and mien. It was clear enough to see how gregarious the youths were. The colours and other outlooks of the people depicted peace and togetherness. On both sides of the Oba were dignitaries, high calibre personalities, men and women of timbre and caliber who came in their numbers to identify with their kinds in the town. Oba Rabiu Oladimeji Sule, sat resplendently amongst other traditional rulers from far and near. As the guests sat in groups and adorned in different uniforms under canopies that were well decorated and properly arranged, the mood was good. In a circular form as it were, the centre served as an ideal platform, a stage where performances took place. The colours of rainbow with which the arena was adorned quickly entrapped and held people spell-bound. It was good to be home to a quiet, gentle, fresh and unpolluted peaceful village environment.Īs people strolled into the festival arena, that air of colourful beauty, razzmatazz, suffused and enveloped all. A mountainous town that has produced and groomed prominent citizens, the feel in the air, in homes, in streets, in clusters of settlements that littered here and there, quickly sent chills of hospitality and love into the atmosphere. The mood was charged, reverberating positively to welcome visitors, guests and friends of the community. And so as they arrived from their different locations, the town was set agog. Prominent Ogidi indigenes, home and abroad, have always kept this remarkable date sacrosanct. Last weekend, all roads promptly led to Ogidi for this year’s version of the festival.
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