Furore over Isese celebration in Kwara

Opposition by some Islamists to the planned celebration of Yoruba cultural heritage known as Isese Festival may plunge the age-long tranquil Emirate renowned for its ethno-cultural tolerance and inter-religious harmony into turmoil.

Amajor religious crisis is brewing in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. Already, residents of the ancient city, which has been a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, fear for the worse, as alleged attempt by some Islamists in Ilorin to muzzle freedom of worship in the state is said to be threatening peace and harmony in the state.

The crux of the matter is the recent opposition to the planned celebration of Yoruba cultural heritage known as Isese Festival by some Islamists in Ilorin. This, The Nation learnt, came after the Priestess of the Isese Festival, Yeye Ajisekemi Omolara Olatunji, had fixed the festival’s yearly anniversary for July 22nd this year, and had gone ahead to gleefully print invitation letters to herald the programme of activities for the event.

However, the excitement that naturally heralds the rich line up of programme of activities for the Isese festival gave way for anxiety when, suddenly, the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, in a Sallah message delivered shortly after the two-Rakat prayer marking the 2023 Eid celebrations, warned residents of the Ilorin Emirate to desist from any act he considered alien to the culture of the people.

Perhaps, acting on the respected monarch’s subtle admonition, a Muslim group, Majlisu Shabab li Ulamahu Society, was said to have stormed the Ilorin residence of the Isese Priestess, Yeye Olatunji, to caution her against embarking on the planned Isese festival in the five councils.

The Islamic sect insisted that the Isese festival must not hold, alleging that the Emir sent them to convey the warning.

Isese, the Yoruba word for tradition, is used to denote different kinds of festivals held by adherents of the Yoruba traditional religion in Nigeria, Cuba, Brasil, the United States, Benin, and other countries. And the action of the Muslim group has, quite naturally, not gone down with people within and outside the Emirate, many of who feel that the opposition by the Islamists was an attack on Nigeria’s secular status.

Literary giant and Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka is one of those that lent their voices against what they considered as an apparent attempt to muzzle freedom of worship in the state. Prof. Soyinka noted, for instance, that soon after the Moslem season of spiritual purification, “it is sad to see the ancient city of Ilorin, a confluence of faiths and ethnic varieties, reduced to this level of bigotry and intolerance, manifested in the role of a presiding monarch.”

Prof. Soyinka said year after year, the Ramadan has been celebrated in Nigeria as an inclusive gathering of humanity, irrespective of divergences of belief, and not once, in his life, has he 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. In an open letter to the Ilorin monarch, he said: “It is conducts like this that has turned, before our very eyes, a once ecumenical city like Kaduna into a blood-stained mockery of cohabitation.

“It is conducts 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 country 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 conducts 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.”

The respected don noted that the greatest avatars that the world has known were not without human frailties, flaws, and errors of understanding. “You are not omniscient, and you are not omnipotent,” Soyinka told the Emir.

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Yeye Olatunji said: “I have spent a colossal sum of money in preparation for the festival. I have paid close to N300, 000 to hire the hall, we have booked for Aso Ebi (Ankara) and customised T shirts and other things. But what I spent is not equivalent to life. I have planned to celebrate the annual Aje Olokun festival. I’m a member of the Kwara State Association of Traditional Religion, otherwise known as Isese.”

She further said it is an association of people practicing traditional religion. “We are not members of the Christian group or the Muslim group. We practice traditional religion which is allowed by the Nigerian Constitution. We planned a three day event to celebrate the traditional religion festival between July 22 and 24. It is not a secret thing that we want to do.

“It is a get together party in which we want to give recognition to some people who leave within and outside the country,” Yeye Olatunji emphasised.

According to her, it is not the first time that she will be celebrating the festival. But this year’s festival is planned to be more elaborate and we want to give recognition to some of our friends who have been supporting us. But there was misinformation caused by social media, which went out with some information that are not true,” she said.

The Priestess clarified: “I have been living in Ilorin and I have enjoyed the peace of the town since I came to settle here. I am a peaceful person and nobody has gone to report me to anyone that I have disturbed him or her and no one can accuse me of carrying any sacrifice or litter the area with local sacrifice. I have been living peacefully in the community.”

She, however, said the social media continued to dish out information which are not true and which did not emanate from her. She also said op till now, none of the social media operators have come to her to seek for information or clarify things from her. “The wrong information which the social media published made the people who came to my house react that way.

“The social media, through their various publications made people to misinterpret the programme. It is not my intention to bring idol worship to Ilorin because I know what the town stands for as the center of Islam.

“Those people who are circulating false information about me and peddling unsubstantiated rumours on what I want to do want to set the people against me,” Yeye Olatunji stated.

She denied allegation of distributing fliers, saying, “I didn’t print fliers and I didn’t distribute any fliers. Anyone who has copies of the fliers should produce them. Although, I printed invitation cards, but I have not even distributed the cards before the problem started.

I don’t know how the invitation cards got out because when the printer finished his work, he delivered the invitation cards to me.”

She said she only posted it on her Facebook group and informed members of the Kwara State branch of Traditional Religion worshipers Association, also known as Isese Group. “I have not distributed it to any of the invitees. So, how it got out I don’t know,” she insisted.

Yeye Olatunji emphasised: “I am a traditional religion worshiper but I’m not an Osun devotee, I don’t worship Osun deity. I’m a devotee of Aje Olokun which belongs to Obatala deity.

Giving more details, she said: “My conversion to traditional religion was through personal experience. Nobody converted me to worship traditional religion, but I got the inspiration from dreams and other sources of self motivated factors. You should not be surprised if I tell you that I was a prophetess in a spiritual church before I became a traditional religion worshiper and my conversion has paid off.”

The Priestess, however, said she has stopped the festival. Her words:

“It is not because of what they are saying that I cancelled the programme. I cancelled it because of wise counsel from the elders, religious leaders and the police, who advised that the programme be stopped. I cancelled the celebration because I don’t want crisis, I don’t want people to see me as a trouble maker and I don’t want people to label me that I caused religion crisis in Ilorin.

However, Kawoleyin of Shao Land, also in Ilorin Emirate, Pa Awoniyi Awogbemi, expressed sadness over the cancellation of the festival, saying that Kwara is a Yoruba state, and the act amounted to disenfranchisement of religious practice.

“I wasn’t happy immediately I heard about the cancellation of Isese festival, as Isese is a Yoruba entity. When I heard some group of people kicked against it, I was not happy. Kwara State is a Yoruba state. Out of 16 local governments, Yourba people have 70 or 80 per cent of the population, Pa Awogbemi said, asking, “How can a certain group of people disenfranchise a person not to practice her religion?

While pointing out that the Nigerian Constitution allows the three religions, so one is free to practice his or her religion, Pa Awogbemi said the act could cause misunderstanding and unrest in the society.

A traditionalist, Dr Ayinla Sangodare, also said: “I am reacting withdispleasure as I can see injustice, obvious injustice. It was an effrontery to do that but am happy Prof. Wole Soyin spoke yesterday through his letter. It’s unfortunate that the monarch involved is a judge who understands the constitution of this country. We can’t call that ignorance; it’s a deliberate dehumanization and denial of people’s right”

He, however, said if the situation is not properly managed, it is an invitation to violence because that’s how violence is been triggered.

He also enjoined the governor of the state to mediate to see that the issue is resolved, to ensure there’s Justice.

But the Islamists have kicked their heels in, insisting that their action was in order. For instance, the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) said it is in absolute conformity with the position of Alhaji Sulu-Gambari on his directive that no form of celebration of Isese festival should hold anywhere in Ilorin, saying that the directive was to preserve the harmony in the community.

The National President of the union, Alhaji Aliyu Otta Uthman, insisted that the position of the Emir remains the view of the people of Ilorin Emirate who are not only predominantly Muslims, but also peace-loving.

He said that the attempt to celebrate Isese or any other pagan festival is alien to the culture of Ilorin and could precipitate unnecessary crisis.

Alhaji Uthman, a retiree of the Department of State Service (DSS), said that the experience he garnered over the years and from across all the states of the federation he served showed that for peace to reign, the culture of a host community needed to be respected by all and sundry.

He added that the diatribe reportedly authored by Prof. Soyinka and a few other commentators on the matter were unfortunate, incorrect and needless. The community leader said that freedom of worship, just like other liberty enshrined in the constitution, is not absolute, noting that only the ignorant would encourage an Imam to go to Vatican with the aim of observing or leading the observance of Eid prayers or any other Islamic religious duty.

Alhaji Uthman added that the peace being enjoyed in Ilorin should not be trampled upon, adding that the calmness of Ilorin people should also not be provoked or taken for granted. While noting that Ilorin welcomes all, he insisted that the people of the community who have no other place to call their home would never allow her age long culture to be violated by those who settle among them.

While asking the people of Ilorin Emirate to remain calm, the IEDPU President assured that the Union would, in cooperation with other stakeholders, continue to pursue, encourage and maintain harmonious dispositions in the interest of all.

Similarly, the author of Ilorin History and a community leader, Alhaji Lasisi A. Jimoh said that Soyinka’s “references to the fatal inter-religious disharmony and hostility in Kaduna, Boko Haram and ISWAP are a calculated incitement to disrupt the age-long tranquillity in Ilorin Emirate that is renowned for ethno-cultural tolerance and inter-religious harmony.

Peoplesmind