By Oluwatoyin Adegoke

Nigerians have been urged to sustain cultural festivals as the platform to further unify the nation and rally support for national development.

Major Speakers at this year’s Ojude Oba festival at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State made the call while addressing the colourful gathering of the sons and daughters of Ijebuland and a host of guests from within the country and different parts of the world.

In a remark, the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe pointed out that the commitment of the indigenes to the yearly festival and their convergence in thousands had impacted greatly on the people’s social and economic growth.

Taking a cue from the event, Governor Dapo Abiodun promised that the cultural festival aimed at promoting the tradition and culture of the people would be organized on a larger scale at the state level to showcase arts and culture as a means of promoting unity.

Speaking on the theme of the festival, “Ojude Oba, A Lesson in Religious Harmony” the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona described the annual festival as a cultural and spiritual event bringing the people together for the good of all.

Chairman of the occasion, Chief Clement Okeowo, who applauded the annual festival also urged the federal government to reconstruct the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as a means to further attract investments to the state.

More than 70 categories of people belonging to different cultural and age groups adorned in various traditional attires took turns to pay homage to the Awujale while representatives of different chieftaincy houses also displayed on horses at the ceremony.

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