With the ongoing Oro festival, which entered its second day on Saturday, many people, who spoke to Sunday Tribune in the town, contended that the festival might have been a prelude to the formal announcement of the passage of the Ooni.
However, many other residents maintained that the festival had been scheduled to hold long before the controversies regarding Oba Okunade Sijuwade’s health condition started.
Following the development, there has been anxiety in the ancient town as many indigenes and residents panicked over the Oro Festival and other traditional rites suspected to be ongoing in Ile-Ife.
The town, historically considered to be the source of Yorubaland, had been the centre piece of attention since the reported demise of the Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, on Tuesday, in a London hospital.
Speaking with newsmen in Ile-Ife, a top traditional title holder, who pleaded anonymity, listed Oro, Olojo, Orunmila, Edi, Oranmiyan, Esu, Obatala, among others, as some of the festivals that were celebrated in the town annually.
The chief insisted the the ongoing Oro Festival was not in connection with the “rumoured death of Oba Okunade Sijuwade.”
According to him, “the ongoing festival will end on Thursday. While it lasted, there will be no restriction of movement, except for young and old females that must not see the procession of Oro adherents.
Meanwhile, the door at the back of Ooni’s palace that would only be opened at the death of the monarch, still remained shut as of the time of filing this report.
However, a palace source stated that “since the door still remains permanently closed, it means that the monarch is alive.”
“The closure of markets for business and ringing of a special bell to announce the death of an Ooni are two major significant signs to indicate that the monarch has joined his ancestors and these are yet to be done.”
Source:tribuneonlineng
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