IjebuOde: The Economy and Economics of Ojude-Oba - Ik Muo, PhD.

 

Sunday, June 8, was a memorable day in global Christendom; it was the  celebration of Pentecost and  the birthday of  Christianity about 2025 years ago. It was also the 56^th anniversary of St Sebastian’s Catholic Church, Ijebu-Ode, the seat of Ijebuode Diocese. However, in IjebuOde, Ijebuland and indeed Yorubaland these  religious anniversaries paled into insignificance  because it was the period of Eid el Adha,( Eid Kabir) Ileya and Ojude-Oba, a three-in-one, three-day non-stop celebration, which this time, fell on a weekend. I have lived in Yorubaland for a total of 34 years and I have observed that    they do not allow religious differences  to   ‘put asunder’! In a compound, you have an  Ustaz, an arch-Catholic, a firebrand  casting and binding Pentecostal and a hardcore Animist but they flow seamlessly, sharing each others joys and sorrows. They do not remember religious inclination while comingling  socially, politically and economically. My very good friend and late Bishop of Ijebuode, Ayinde Fashina, was fathered by an Alfa! My landlord, a core Catholic, celebrated the Ileya  with a +size  ram  and all his children and grandchildren  returned for the festivities.

Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale  of Ijebu Land, is a Muslim but he is the Oba of Christians, Muslims and traditionalists.  Ojude Oba is a day when Ijebu  people worldwide  come to  pay homage to their king and this is done on the third day of Ileya, which fell  on Sunday, 8/6/25, the Pentecost day. I learnt that the festival started in the olden days when new Muslim converts paid homage to the Awujale after every Eid. This year’s OjudeOba  did not lose its Tempo  even though the  Oba was absent. He was ably represented by his  Olori,  supported by  Balogun Sonny Kuku, who has just been selected as the new Ogbeni-Oja ( leader of commerce and industry) of Ijebuland. Our Gomina, Prince Dapo Abiodun was also present in a resplendent attire that befitted the occasion.

Thus, all over Ijebu-Ode, it was partying, wining, dining and socialisation nonstop for three whole days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For those 72 hours, Ijebuode became one huge nonstop  cultural, fashion, entertainment  and  business ecosystem. There were canopies everywhere, booze was flowing freely  everywhere people were dancing and gyrating  everywhere and those who could not rent chairs and canopies made do with what they could afford. I came across a family that danced to the sound coming from a car stereo. Houses that  appeared  ‘abandoned’  all along came to live and rams , despite the outrageous costs, were mercilessly  executed and depopulated. Sons, daughters,  in-laws of Ijebuland returned in droves, leading to unusual vehicular congestion. Convoys and with alarms filled everywhere as ‘bigmen’ overwhelmed the sleepy town, with their big cars, expensive convoys, outriders and all the paraphernalia’s of bigmanism. The entertainment headquarters of Nigeria relocated from Lagos to Ijebuode and  you know what it meant that Ebenezer Obe and Kwam 1, among others, stormed the town simultaneously.

That day,  on my way to the 8am Mass, the whole town was already agog, with all the  major streets  decorated in colourful branded materials, with ‘sons of the soil’ GLO( which celebrated its 20^th year sponsorship of the event) and FCMB taking the lead.  The Catholic Bishop of Ijebuode, Francis Adesina  started the Mass by praying for the king, the town and its people and  ended the mass ‘early’(circa 12pm)on the same note enable the people go for ‘odu’. It was  relatively early, giving that 103 youths received the sacrament of confirmation on that day. Every square inch of the town was occupied by one group or the other doing their own things. Men and women dressed  gorgeously in the purpose-made attires, the best shoes, the best bangles. rode in the best cars to the event.  Clubs, age-groups, societies and various dynasties strove to outdo each other with their group-dressing and packaging while individuals  dressed to outshine others with elegance, panache, pose ‘denge’ and colour. The Ojude Oba assembly was so colourful that it was beyond description. Beautifully uniformed and acrobatic horse-riders were on duty and even AI  was present  as some people who were not at the event were created and ‘implanted’ within the OjudeOba grounds.

The Ileya and Ojude-Oba  were beyond socials and culture. I used the eyes of an ancient-economist to view what happened and I saw  more of economics than the socio-cultural. The Governor said the ceremony  promoted local economy, attracted global visibility, fortified  cultural capital and showcased a commingling of religion, tradition and modernity. But it was about economics. The influx of indigenes and non-indigenes,  who lodged in hotels, leading to 100% occupancy rates , rental of canopies, chairs and  chillers; sales of assorted drinks,   general and unique cuisines; ram-sellers and butchers, event planners,  advertisers, marketing communication and branding experts, social media ‘practitioners’ performance artists,  videographers and photographers, the fashion industry, transporters,  filling stations,   road-side joints, sellers of daily needs, hawkers(favoured by the traffic snarl)… everybody made money; real money. Even the ‘body no be wood industry’ experienced a boom because outside the royal vicinity, I saw some ladies decked in cyber-minis, flaunting   some unmentionable things  and exposing what should be hidden, all over the place. Local and imported area boys and petty-thieves were also in attendance.  Everybody and every group  had a swell time and as the big men enjoyed the luxury that their wealth could provide, the not-so big men who came with them permeated the city at night and overwhelmed the various local joints. And they all spent money, big money, in the process. I also noticed that a good-number of the young-lady entrepreneurs locked up their shops and got engulfed into the Ileya/Ojude-Oba  bang. I don’t know where they went but they disappeared for the three days and reappeared by Monday. In any case, if you doubt that it was an economic affair, go and ask the Governor of Kano who was lamenting the financial and business losses that the state economy incurred  due to the  cancellation of the Durbar.

 The morning after, everywhere was QUIET! All the guests and executive convoys had  literarily vanished, the accompanying alarms seized, most of the canopies were dismantled and by the time I went for the morning walk, it was not believable that this was a city engulfed in riotous celebration for three days. Even my landlords’ children who returned for the festivities had also disappeared.  All the strange faces, security details and all that had disappeared and we have gone back to our  usual quiet  Ijebuode lives.

Ileya & Ojude-oba were primarily  a socio-cultural  affair but the economics and economy of the events  have overwhelmed the cultural and religious. I don’t know how the thing is organised but I suggest that the state and federal agencies should get involved and expand the width and depth of the celebrations. I also suggest that our economists  and the Nigerian Bureau of  Statistics should undertake an indebt  study to unravel the economic impact of the ceremonies on Ijebuo-Ode, Ijebu Land and beyond. We need to optimise the Ojude-Oba economy. The people of Ijebuode can also build an Ojudu-Oba village, a cultural city for year-round entertainment and expand the festivities to a weeklong event. They are equal to the task.

Meanwhile, the contrasting reports on the event  by BBC and Vanguard  is a proof that we perceive differently and that there are areas for improvement. Theft, poor network, human congestion and stampede were evident. It was difficult for senior citizens to enjoy the event peacefully. It also shows that the  event has overgrown the venue and my proposed Ojude Oba Village( Copyrighted)is an idea whose time has come

I also want to report all my Muslim friends to the whole world. Only my Landlord, Engr SA Olanrewaju extended the usual dried Sallah ram meat to me. Those who told me that their rams ran away last year did not even say anything this year; maybe they are waiting for next year so that they can give me whole rams! However, they should have given me some ‘advance’  while I await for whole rams.  Consequently, I will report them to Ijebu Muslim Congress for failing to fulfil their 2025 religious obligations to the Son of Man.

- Ik Muo, PhD. FCIB. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026624

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