Nation
Isese festival: A rich history reopens old wounds over Ilorin ownership
Adebayo Obajemu
Two weeks ago, the desire of Yeye Ajesikemi Omolara, a priestess, to hold an “Isese festival” in Ilorin, Kwara state.ignited first a firestorm of opposition and then controversy that went beyond Kwara State.
The Isese festival controversy has been long in the making as the dust was first raised in January when Yeye Ajisikemi Omolara, an Ifa priestess showed her intent to hold the festival in Ilorin, a state noted for large number of Muslims, who hold a strict interpretation of Islam that forbids syncretism.
Ilorin’s place in Islam is rooted in history of the Yorubas, thus it was not surprising when a Muslim group, the Majilisu Shabab li Ulamahu, in a video, warned Yeye Ajesikemi Omolara, against holding the festival in Ilorin, Kwara state.
Earlier, the Nobel laureate, in an open letter has critisised the Emir of Ilorin, Sulu Gambari, for reportedly banning a Yoruba cultural event, the Isese festival, from holding in the Kwara State capital. The playwright two Thursdays ago stated that the emir’s action is an assault on civilized conduct.
Shortly after Adesikemi Olokun, an Osun devotee, made public fliers announcing a three-day traditional event aimed at celebrating certain Yoruba deities, an Islamic group, Majlisu Shabab li Ulamahu Society, stormed her residence to warn her not to hold the celebration.
The image maker for the Emir of Ilorin, Abdulazeez Arowona, was widely quoted as stating that the emir and the palace were behind the stance of the Islamic group. He, however, said the group was not sent by the emir.
But a professor of religion, Tumise Adebola, in a chat with Business Hallmark, said that religious plurality is the hallmark of modernity, saying that “The Isese devotees have a right to freedom of religion as long as they do not impinge on the rights of others.”
“As far as I’m concerned,once they don’t go about violently wooing others to join them, they should be allowed freedom to celebrate their faith.”
Since January, the priestess has been chorusing receiving series of death threats over the planned festival.
The group situated their position on the stance of the traditional ruler of Ilorin, Sulu Gambari, and the fact that Isese festival amounts to idolatry.
Later the Emir came out to state the festival was cancelled “to prevent crisis”, this was in a direct response to the criticism of the ban by Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate.
Arowona said that the priestess had lived “harmoniously” in the town for years “until she decided to go beyond her boundaries”.
Earlier, the Nobel laureate, in an open letter has criticisd the Emir for placing a ban on Isese, which is a Yoruba cultural event.
Despite public criticism, the Ilorin Muslim group has stood its ground, vowing not to allow the celebration anywhere in the five local government areas of Kwara that constitute the Ilorin emirate.
Speaking on the controversy, Soyinka insisted that it was a bad omen that the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, has been reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch.
“The truncation of a people’s traditional festival is a crime against the cultural heritage of all humanity,” he said.
“Year after year, Ramadan has been celebrated in this nation as an inclusive gathering of humanity, irrespective of divergences of belief.
“Not once, in my entire span of existence, have I encountered pronouncements by followers of any faith that the slaughtering of rams on the streets and market places is an offence to their concept of godhead. Vegetarians hold their peace. Buddhists walk a different path.
“Prior to Ramadan, non-Moslems routinely join in observing the preceding season of fasting as a spiritual exercise worthy of emulation.”
Soyinka recalled how, for instance, “a procession of Corpus Christ was once attacked, some killed, by a brood of Moslem fanatics, for daring to process along the streets of that same Ilorin. Needless to say, such abominations have become routine. Community is sacrificed to bigotry.”
Soyinka stated that he currently lectures in Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, where the Islamic religion originated, and the system is inclusive.
“It may interest you to know that, in Abu Dhabi, numerous programmes are pursued, at government expense, for the evolution of a humanised community based on religious tolerance and mutual respect,” he said.
“By contrast here, several tiers have been removed from our origin, must we turn the turban of enlightenment into a crown of bigotry? And in a society whose very constitution that supposedly governs us all guarantees freedom of belief, association and movement?”
The novelist described the emir’s action as one that has led to religious malformations.
“Your Royal Highness, it is conduct like this that has bred Boko Haram, ISIS, ISWAP and other religious malformations that currently plague this nation, spreading grief and outrage across a once peaceful landscape, degrading my and your existence with their virulent brand of Islam,” he said.
“It is conduct like this that has turned, before our very eyes, a once ecumenical city like Kaduna into a blood-stained mockery of cohabitation. It is conduct like this that makes it possible for a young student, Deborah, to be lynched in the very presence of armed police, on mere allegation of having belittled the image of a revered prophet.
“It is action of this nature, perpetrated in obscure as well as prominent outlets of the nation, that turns a young generation into mindless monsters, ever ready to swarm out and kill, kill, kill. Simply kill for the thrill of it, but under presumption of religious immunity.
“It is conduct like this that then nerves one extremist to wake up one day in a Scandinavian country, publicly announce his intention, and proceed to make a bonfire of copies of the Qur’an. Reprisals follow, equally mindless, trapping humanity in an ever-ascending spiral of costly but gleeful violence.”
He condemned the fact that African continent has borne the brunt of centuries of disdain and despoiliation at the hands of alien religions- Christianity and Islam at the forefront.
He advised Emir Gambari “To rein in those agents of division, of triumphalist intolerance, such as the Majlisu Shabab Ulamahu Society. There is a thin line between Power and Piety.”
“Call Yeye Ajasikemi OIokun Omolara to your side, make peace with her and make restitution whichever way you can for this grievous insult to our race. We know the history of Ilorin and the trajectory of your dynasty – but these are not the issues.
“The issue is peaceful cohabitation, respect for other worldviews, their celebrations, their values and humanity. The issue is the acceptance of the multiple facets of human enlightenment.”
Business Hallmark learnt that Isese Day is a Yoruba cultural cum religious festival that is observed in Ogun and Osun on August 20th each year. The day is set aside for traditional worshipers to celebrate their deities.
The day is observed as the culmination of a week of traditional religious activities and festivities.
“Isese ” is a Yorùbá word for Tradition) it’s a day to celebrates the Yorùbá traditions and religion in a display of culture and spirituality with parties, festivals, parades, lectures and display of other traditional apparels to attract tourists from other parts of the world.
The festival is also celebrated by Yorùbá diaspora communities around the world. While the majority of the Yoruba live in western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in Benin, Ghana, Togo and the Caribbean who observe the Isese festival.
