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ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA – A Traditionalist, Oba Ìsèse Of Ogun State and Chairman “Ìsèse Kingdom Of Truth, Association Of Nigeria,” Ifarotimi Adifagbola Balogun has said that celebration of the Ìsèse festival in Ogun State would continue to be celebrated annually.
Speaking on International Ìsèse Day with newsmen recently, the Oba Ìsèse in Ogun State, Adifagbola Balogun said their group was trying as much as possible to ensure the festival did not go into extinction as they infuse the culture into their children.
Adifagbola Balogun said, “When we observed that our fathers had gathered and had observed this festival, where they stopped, we get involved. If there’s a festival and we don’t involve our children, such festival would get destroyed, that is why we have the religion of the Ifa Council gathered together.
“We, the youths of today, gathered together in a temple way, we gathered children together in order for them to know that this Ìsèse should not be moved away from them. You don’t have to be afraid of it, it is not something children should not see; that is why we gathered children for them to know that it is an important thing. It is the word of God being established, it is Irumole’s word we follow. It is how we are created; it is very important.
“In what Orunmila told us, the word of God is established, we have chosen a leader to teach us various languages. When he would gather some of them, he taught them various religions on Ìsèse. He taught them to follow any religion that suited them, and he said one should not hinder one.
“We would observe that this Ìsèse, we met it on earth. It was celebrated before the strange religion came in; that is why we youths of today turned it to religion so that our children would not be taken away. Then we started gathering children because they made them to be afraid of it. We gathered ourselves so that there would be peace. If we have various religions today, we are also there in between them. One religion is not stopping the other; what you believe in you serve with your heart.”
He said that five southwestern states in Nigeria including Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital have declared every August 20th as a holiday, that is, work-free to mark Ìsèse Day, a traditional Yoruba festival celebrated on August 20, every year. The other states are Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ondo.
Adifagbola Balogun said this draws attention to the need to preserve cultural heritages and the inevitable marriage between culture and education, noting that it would also promotes religious tolerance.
“Indeed, the the Ìsèse Day has been set aside to celebrate the indigenous Yoruba culture and traditions as well as the preservation of the Yoruba heritage, and there is a need to accommodate Ìsèse festival in the country, so that every religion should be accommodated.”
“We all know what’s called an idol. Irumole was well-known everywhere. Let’s accommodate ourselves. Peace is religion. Together with Ìsèse, let’s accommodate ourselves, we are not touts.
“We have so many religions, let us not push ourselves away. Let us not hinder ourselves. Anybody can worship what they like as religion; we have so many ways to God; you can’t say this is the purest religion. There is no language that God does not listen to. Let us accommodate ourselves, and let us accommodate peace,” Adifagbola Balogun submitted.
