Festivals

Osun Osogbo Festival 2025: Tourists Warned against Site Desecration

Published

1 year ago

July 23, 2025

Osun Osogbo festival 2025 events unveiled as state warns tourists against site desecration and urges payment for services to boost tourism infrastructure

In preparation for the 2025 Osun Osogbo Festival this August, Osun State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Abiodun Ojo, has unveiled a week-long cultural extravaganza and mega expo. Speaking on Tuesday in Osogbo, Ojo issued a stern warning to tourists against desecrating heritage sites.

Also read: Orosun Festival boosts Ondo tourism hopes

“When you go there, don’t desecrate the sites. Don’t go and do things that are not hygienic there,” he said. He urged visitors to avoid littering or any unhygienic practices that could spread disease, adding that it is a shared duty to preserve the sanctity of the sites.

He also encouraged tourists to pay for services provided at the locations. “The government is also charging you to pay for services you enjoy whenever you are on a visit to the sites to enable it to further improve the facilities available there, and generate revenue for the state,” he explained.

The programme includes drawing, painting, dance and fashion competitions, a cycling tourism challenge, cuisine training, historical tours, and corporate business exhibitions. All attendees are expected at the grand finale of the Osun-Osogbo cultural festival.

Ojo noted that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration has upgraded many tourist attractions across the state. “Encourage us too.

Also read: Osun Governor seeks UK investment, cultural partnerships in London

Encourage the government to do more, and you will do that by paying for the services you enjoy at our sites. You go there, please pay. We are doing our best, and we will still do more,” he said.

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Culture

OLOJO….Ile Ife’s September Gift To Culture

Published

2 weeks ago

October 5, 2026

Mariam Balogun

By Halima Adaba,

It was a featubal if the people. It was for the anciebt town of Ile Ife, which the Yoruba race refards as the Source.

Also read: Olojo Festival 2026: Ooni Urges Leaders to Prioritise Citizens

And ut was a festivsl for the King, Arole Oduduwa, Oonirisa, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II.

And so between September 24 and 28th 2026, the annual featuval dazzjed in all its white glory.

Tge Monarch paid the traditional ancestral homage and offered propitiation as part of the sacred rites of the Olojo Festival.
It was a powerful expression of Yoruba heritage, spirituality, and enduring tradition.

Call it a collection of beautiful moments, faces, colours and cultural expressions.

Every frame tells a story.

Every face carries the energy.

Every moment keeps the heritage alive.

Undoubtedly one of the most sacred cultural celebrations in Ilé-Ifẹ̀. It marked a day associated with creation, thanksgiving, ancestral heritage, and the sacred appearance of the Ooni of Ife wearing the revered Aàrẹ crown.

There were also the devotees of the famed god of thunder – Sàngó who were hardly conspicuous at the festival.

Many other traditional groups came out with candor, showing a powerful expression of Yoruba cultural identity, spiritual devotion, and respect for the ancient traditions of Ilé-Ifẹ̀.

Devotees of Sàngó bekieved the ‘appearance’ of the god of thunder on Seotember 26th could be understood as a symbolic meeting of ancestral heritage, spiritual devotion, and the celebration of creation.

It was a moment when the sounds of drums, chants, and traditional praise poetry brought the history of the Yoruba people to life.

Although Olojo is closely associated with Ogun, the god of iron, and the sacred traditions of Ile-Ife, the presence of Sàngó devotees reflected the rich diversity of Yoruba spiritual heritage.

Also read: Olojo Festival 2026: Ooni Urges Leaders to Prioritise Citizens

As a participant enthused at the festival, “To witness Sàngó Olúkòso emerge on Olojo Festival day is to witness a living expression of history, identity, and ancestral pride.”