Akure traditional festival doesn’t involve fetishism, says monarch

The Deji of Akure Kingdom, Oba Adetoyinbo Aladelusi, has moved to dispel misconceptions surrounding the annual Ulefunta traditional festival, stating clearly that it does not involve fetishism. The festival, described as the highest traditional celebration in Akure Kingdom, is set to take place in the coming weeks.

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Traditionally, the festival is about the Deji of Akure to go on vacation and during that time there would be no other celebrations; there would be no beating of drums. It affects the main town of Akure; it doesn’t affect other Akure-speaking communities.

Oba Olu Ajanaku, the Olu of Okelisa Titun and Chairman of the Ulefunta Festival Committee, spoke on behalf of Oba Aladelusi, detailing the six-day celebration's program. He emphasized that the activities are designed to promote civility, social interaction, and community purity. To underscore the festival's inclusive and non-fetish nature, Ajanaku pointed to events scheduled at St. David’s Anglican Church Cathedral on the final day and a Jumat service at the Akure Central Mosque on the fourth day. He noted that Ulefunta marks the beginning of the new year in the Akure traditional calendar.

The forthcoming celebration aims to unite residents and indigenes from Akure North, Akure South, and Akure Central in commemorating the city's history, culture, and shared heritage. The itinerary includes cultural displays, a football competition, a health outreach program, a colloquium, masquerade performances, chieftaincy conferments, and religious services. These events are intended to foster stronger unity among the people of Akure.

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I want to clarify this: Ulefunta festival is not a fetish festival. If you look at the programme on day six of this celebration, it ends at St. David’s Anglican Church Cathedral and on day four, there is a Jumat service at the Akure Central Mosque. You can see that it is about civility, it’s about social interaction, about purity of our community. In the Akure traditional calendar, it is the beginning of a new year.

Furthermore, the community is actively working to preserve its historical and cultural identity by planning the establishment of the Akure Heritage Library and a digital archive. This initiative will make materials on Akure's history and heritage accessible globally. Oba Ajanaku stressed the importance of the community telling its own story to ensure accurate representation of its past and identity.

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Let us tell our story ourselves. History is not only about the past. History is identity. History is heritage. History is memory. If we do not preserve our history, someone else will eventually tell it for us, and they may not tell it the way we know it.