1st Ikotun day: Celebrating rich culture, traditions

Ikotun  is over 500 years-old according to a conservative estimate. It is an ancient community rich  in  culture and traditions bequeathed to  it by the progenitors who, from our findings, migrated from Ile Ife, the ancestral home  of the Yoruba.  Little wonder therefore that Ikotun has some intrinsic cultural heritage identified with the Yoruba nation […]

Ikotun  is over 500 years-old according to a conservative estimate. It is an ancient community rich  in  culture and traditions bequeathed to  it by the progenitors who, from our findings, migrated from Ile Ife, the ancestral home  of the Yoruba. 

Little wonder therefore that Ikotun has some intrinsic cultural heritage identified with the Yoruba nation across the country.  

For the heritage to be preserved and guarded jealously, the community believes sons and daughters must be united so that together the culture could be preserved, nurtured and sustained. This, it believes, would foster mutual cooperation and engender greater communal efforts, that would transform the lives of not only the indigenes of the community, but the settlers too. 

It was on this premise that the first Ategbo Olukotun Day was organized recently which brought together sons and daughters of the community, who stormed the occasion and donated their widow’s mite for the construction of a befitting ultra modern palace for the Onikotun. 

The glamorous three-day event was filled with singing, dancing and merry-making. The activities commenced with an awareness rally in Ikotun followed by a soccer event among Ikotun families, a free medical programme, and different competitions in Ludo, and Ayo Olopon games. 

On the fateful Saturday when our correspondent visited Ikotun community, the celebration could be felt across the nooks and crannies  of the community as the youths of the community were playing music at every corner. There was excitement  and ecstasy on their faces, even as the temporary palace of  the Olukotun was a beehive of activities ,with many visitors thronging in to rejoice with the monarch, Oba Azeez Gbadabiu  Ishola Asiwaju. 

Behind the glamorous event was Med-View Airline PLC, whose Managing Director/CEO, Alhaji Muneer Bankole is an indigene of Ikotun by virtue of the community being his maternal home. Therefore, the MD in  memory of his late mother, Alhaji Zeenat Abeke, did everything he could to make the ceremony a befitting one. 

Bankole in a chat with our correspondent said, “Today is an historic day in the life and history of our town, Ategbo Olukotun where God has blessed us with a loving king, Oba Gbadabiu Asiwaju.

“You have seen by yourself  the turnout of people both from within and outside. I had the opportunity to come home to launch this Ikotun Day. It has never happened before and the whole idea is to bring everybody back home to show a little interest in their place of origin.

My mother, Alhaja Zeenatu Abeke was born here in 1920. She was a loving mother and her father and grand father has been here since 1625. She’s highly recognized, blessed and I thank her for whatever she has done in my life. So that informed me to come here and put back my own energy and time from what I have been able to achieve, to contribute my little quota to the growth of this community.”

He assured that the proposed ultramodern palace would soon become a reality, despite the fact that  the over N10 million raised at the occasion was far from the targeted N250m, saying, “We don’t need to contest what Allah (swt) has done. This is an unexpected moment. In spite of the recession, you can see people are still kind enough to do something…I hope that by the next Ikotun Day, it would be bigger and better.

All the ruling houses, and family compounds  are all present . It has never happened before and the Almighty has used me as a pivot for this progress and for this project.” He appealed for unity among sons and daughters of the community.

At the ceremony were different tents occupied by the different royal houses of Ikotun including Odusola Ruling House, Ekitan Royal Family, Kuaru Chieftaincy Family and Asalu Gbegbe Royal house, which according to dignitaries portrays the love and unity which exists in the community.

What then could be more fulfilling than the royal presence of His Majesty, the Oba of Lagos, Riliwanu Akiolu who sent two of his wives, Olori Adenike and Olori Fadeke Akiolu as well as the white cap chiefs to the event. The chiefs in attendance were Chief Aderibigbe Lateef Ajose (Onidan of Lagos), Chief Adesoji Ajayi Benbe (Obanikoro of Lagos); Chief Ismail Oladehinde (Olorogun Ide of Lagos); Prince Ayodele Adedeji (Bajulaye of Lagos); Chief Ibikunle Adio (Oluwo Jakande) and Chief Tajudeen Durosinmi-Eti (Eti of Lagos). 

There were different cultural displays to thrill the audience. Local entertainers like the Indian Queen, and cultural dancers were on ground to add glamour to the event. Many were particularly held spell bound by the masquerades’ display, even as the monarch explained that the masquerades of Ikotun represent the history of the community.

He said “This community has been in existence for the past 500 years and it is a community that is very rich in cultural heritage. These masquerades are a part of our culture. In fact I deliberately invited the masquerades because a lot of our sons and daughters did not know the importance of these masquerades. They represent something deeper than we do think.

“You cannot talk about the history of Ikotun without making reference to these masquerades. Our forefathers, the founders of this community came from Ile Ife and as they were coming, they brought different shrines and masquerades, among others. They came with Osugbo, Sango, Oya, Iji and the like. In particular, these masquerades are very powerful  and some are more powerful than the others. Like the ones you saw on the stage, they are not that violent. There are some masquerades that you can’t even wait to see because they are very violent. There is a particular one that our women normally visit if they want to conceive, and so on and so forth.

“We are doing this basically to preserve and protect what our founding fathers left for us. We want our children to know that despite the western civilization that has taken the centre stage, we cannot afford to neglect our culture.”   

Oba Gbadabiu further explains that the event was also organized to signpost peaceful coexistence of Ikotun as part of the entity called Lagos. According to him, Ikotun has become a mini Nigeria where the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulanis, the Ndigbo, Togolese, Ghanaian, among people of other tribes and nationalities live harmoniously. “We are celebrating the blessings of God over the lives of our kings, chiefs, leaders, women and our children, as well as thanking God for transforming our land into a centre of commerce and economic growth, as a sphere of sound value and political stability in this region,” he added.  

Alhaji Adeniyi Sarumi Musiliudeen who was the Chief Launcher, also stressed the importance of unity among sons and daughters of the community, not only to further develop the area ,but to protect the sanctity of the traditions and cultural heritage of the community. 

Chairman of the Planning Committee, Chief Hakeem Olanrewaju also gave insight into the rationale behind the celebration, saying it was conceptualized “as a trans-generational platform to celebrate communal excellence by way of discovering hidden talents, untapped numerous potentials amongst our youth as well as other natural resources in the Ikotun kingdom.”