It is no longer news that in Lagos State, this year’s Oro Festival has been scheduled to kickoff on 1st of August, 2024, same day the much anticipated nationwide strike is equally equally expected to kickoff. But how well do you know about this much revered and dreaded festival?
ORO FESTIVAL:
Oro in Yoruba means fierceness, tempest or provocation. And during the festival, the Oro masquerade (seen in a long robe), that is dressed with shells, a wooden mask that is painted plain white, while the lips of the mask is smeared with reddish colour, signifying blood and the dreaded/dangerous nature of the Oro masquerade.
The Festival, is one of the biggest traditional events of the South-West Nigeria, commonly known as the Yorubas, annually celebrated by different towns and settlements by the people of Yoruba. And it is said to be used in cleansing their land of evil, bad omen, etc, and lasts for about seven (7) days or weeks.
Those eligible to participate in the festival are male descendants of the various places the festival is celebrated in Yoruba land. Both women and non-indigenes of these places must not be seen outside during the parade of the Oro masquerades, they must be indoors.
It is often stated that violation of this could be meted with instant death, as the violator is rather killed by the Oro masquerade, and the body of the deceased vanishes immediately.
According to late Dr. Frederick Faseun, leader of the Yoruba Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, stated while alive, precisely in 1999, that anyone who violates this tradition faces instant death.
He equally made it clear, that no matter who the woman is, be it a foreigner from any country, that once she violates the tradition by seeing the Oro masquerade, that the punishment is instant death. That tells how deadly and dreaded the tradition is, which is why some others have often criticized it.
Recall that sometime ago, during the festival, a serious and violent clash erupted in South West, between Hausas and Yorubas. This was as a result of the killing of an Hausa woman, alleged to have violated the tradition by being outside at night during the Oro Festival.
An eligible male adult in Yoruba cannot be considered a full fledged man until he’s initiated into the cult or tradition.
Prior to the initiation, the man is considered an Ogberi or Egberi, literary meaning that the person who is not yet initiated is an inferior man or seen more like a woman, and as such, not worthy to be in the midst of real men (those already initiated).
Now, look at such a revered festival suddenly being deployed by politicians and not traditionalist this time around, just to confront the anticipated nationwide strike. These our so called leaders do not really care about the masses, I can tell you for free.
So they just want people to clash, all in their desperation to halt the nationwide strike in question. Is this the best approach to this? How do you intend quenching a burning flame with either fuel or gas?
Meanwhile, in Abuja, the ones there have equally come up with their own agenda; that August 1st is now set aside to honour traditional rulers in FCT. Is it not obvious these people are just desperately looking for ways to plunge the masses into the abyss of death?
