Olubadan suspends Egungun festival as violence mars celebration

Moshood Olalekan Balogun, Olubadan of Ibadan, has ordered the suspension of the ongoing Egungun festival over reported cases of violence, arson and looting of shops in the capital city of Oyo state. 

The Egungun festival is a communal ceremony held annually in south-west Nigeria to honour Yoruba ancestors. Egungun is the Yoruba word for masquerade.

Balogun, in a statement issued on Sunday by Oladele Ogunsola, his personal media aide, said the atrocities were perpetrated by some hoodlums hiding under the cover of the festival in Ibadan.

The traditional ruler also summoned all the leaders of masquerades, known as ‘Alaagbaa’ in Ibadan, to an emergency meeting scheduled for July 17, at the ancient Aliiwo palace, Agodi.

Balogun expressed sadness over the reported cases of violence accompanying the annual festival, describing the development as unfortunate and an affront on his palace.

He had, on Wednesday, condemned the violence recorded during the festival at Alafara area of Ibadan.

“As if the warning was just a blabbing, the same thing was reported on Saturday on a scale that made the previous one a child’s play,” Ogunsola said.

“I warned seriously against what is happening when the festival was to commence and the assurances I got then were that nothing untoward would accompany the festival.

“But the reports coming to me have been at variance with those assurances I earlier got from the masquerades’ leaders.

“No responsible leader would fold his arms when majority of those subjects one superintendents over are in agony and living in perpetual fear just because of the activities of a few misguided elements who find it difficult to be law abiding.

“This is why the suspension clause has to be invoked and how long it lasts would be determined by the outcome of the meeting of Monday afternoon.

“I’m for peace and there’s zero tolerance for whatever it is that will not give my people peace of mind.”

He called on the security agencies to maintain peace and order wile charging them that “whoever flouts the suspension order under whatever guise, must be handled like a criminal”.