Opinion :Beere/ Ojude-Oba;A Tale of Two Festivals|| YY Muslim

 

It is apposite to adorn the garment that suits the season ( aso igba,oun la maa n da fun igba). For this reason, whoever that is a turncoat and therefore wears an ill suited garment would be appropriately described by the appellation: a wewu ojo leerun. The 2024 Saki Beere festival has come and gone with the funfare,beauty and the ugly. While the Ojude-Oba festival normally held on the third day of Eid Kabir; the Muslim festival marked with slaughtering of animals,had also taken place with the flora and fauna. I therefore intend to place these two cultural events side by side with a view to how the duo can be positioned as cultural and tourism allure for the South Western part of Nigeria. Foe an event to attract the attention of the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO); the world body saddled with identifying potential cultural and tourism site globally,deliberate efforts must be made to package, retool,rejig and refurbish such events to attune with the new world order in tourism potentialities. This is necessary amidst the stark reality of how handsomely some larger economies have reaped bountifully from cultural tourism. France attracted a whopping 90 million visitors annually while cultural tourism contributes more than 30 percent of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As a nation desirous of raking in more foreign exchange earnings other than slavish dependent on mono cultural oil economy,you cannot but be jolted into real action.

This discourse is also necessary amidst the controversy of whether or not Beere and Ojude-Oba festivals are fetish and pagan. I interacted with a highly placed and knowledgeable traditional ruler in Saki who was of the opinion that for Beere festival to morph into a tourist attraction,it must be shelved of its pagan and fetish toga, otherwise overtime, committed Muslims and Christians would literally bow out of the engagement. An important cross section of the South West Muslim clerics have also raised their voices against Ojude-Oba as being hearthen. The voices of this important swathe of the world population cannot be ignored bearing in mind over 2 billion Muslim global Community. A similar situation is applicable to the Christian community whose Catholic wing alone is manifold. I therefore suggest that religious bodies that take exception to partaking in these festivals on account of pagan or fetish elements should come up with a position paper on which aspects of the events to be expunged to meet up with the expectations of the global religious societies. Agreed, there are some elements tagged pagan, hearthen or fetish which are mere entertainments. Magical display, masquerade parade and the drinking spree associated with the Festivals,for example,are purely for entertainment and sunnatic elements in the Muslim wing can recluse from such when it the turn for those events. A similar thing goes for Christian Pentecostal. For further example,so many expatriates go to Osun Osogbo for both cultural and religious tourism especially from the Yoruba in the diaspora. It's not therefore academic to put a blanket ban on these two important events without pinpointing,item by item, what is pagan and what is not. A large cross section of spectators in the Saki Egungun festival in the 70s,80s and early 90s were involved purely for recreation and not for anything religious. But liberality gave way for deeper religious thoughts on both ends and things have since changed dras

Also,a cortery of experts on tourism needs to re-examine both festivals and integrate further events to enrich their tourim qualities without doing harm to their traditional rationale . We must not sacrifice the traditional values embedded in these festivals on the altar of modernity. In India where cultural tourism held sway,the traditional values and elements are still retained. Such sites designated for visit, therefore serve traditional and cultural values. Ojude-Oba,for example,is celebrated by adherents of the Muslim and Christian religious beliefs its attachment to Ileya festival notwithstanding. And I don't think anything can change if a non Muslim becomes the Awujale of Ijebu Ode.

The last leg of this discourse is the need for a political push to give the noble idea a leverage. And I don't think this should be anything yeoman's with the Member representing the Saki East,Saki West and Atisbo Federal Constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly as the chair of the Nigerian Tourism Board. He would simply need to network other like minds in the house in case push comes to shove. This is 21st century world whose global economy is driven by information and technology. Oke Ogun and South Western Nigeria can ill-afford to be an exception.

Dr. YY Muslim is a lecturer at the Polytechnic, Ibadan and Public Affairs Commentator