By Adeyinka Adeniran
The President General of the apex socio cultural organisations in Ibadan, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Chief Sulaimon Ajeniyi Ajewole has said the intention behind the decision to celebrate the ancient city of Ibadan is to among others facilitate unity and togetherness among the indigenes and residents of the city.
Additionally, he said, the celebration which started as a days event but has not turned to a week-long festival provides opportunities to showcase the culture and institutions of Ibadanland.
He spoke while addressing a press conference called to announce the series of activities mapped out to celebrate the festival.
Flanked by the Chairman, 2025, Ibadan Festival Committee, Chief Abiola Alli among other top officials of the Council, the PG said the festival will also promote unity among the over 240 affiliate clubs while also exposing youths to the beauty of the culture of the land.
Noting that the CCII was formed in 1980 to protect and safeguard the interest of Ibadanland and its indigenes, the PG recounted that the idea of celebrating Ibadan started some 37years ago and has grown from Ibadan day to Ibadan week and now Ibadan festival.
He said activities had been lined up from May 8th to 17th, 2025, to commemorate the occasion.
He said, “Why Ibadan Festival? One, to showcase the culture of Ibadan. Two, to showcase the institutions of Ibadanland, because the most fundamental thing CCII of holds at hand is the institution of Olubadan of Ibadanland.
“Thirdly, Ibadan Festival’s aim is to give more unity among the affiliated clubs. Another reason for it is to develop our youths in various ways. And that is why we have game competitions among people in Ibadanland. We have ayo olopon, table tennis, football competitions, beauty pageant, quiz competition.
“There are football competitions. There’s also what we call the talent hunt to get the best out of Ibana sons and daughters. We also have the Oreke, which basically was to get an Ibana girl that is not only very beautiful but very brilliant, intelligent.
“Then, like I said earlier, to showcase our culture, and that is why we used to have every year state play. At this stage play, our aim is promoting our past heroes. Ibadan is a city that was formed by warriors, and therefore we like to showcase each of them every year.
“It also gives opportunity to Ibadans in diaspora to come home, to see by themselves the development and growth of Ibadan, and to also increase the economic growth of Ibadanland, because when we have this annual festival, a lot of economic activities, buying and selling, creation of artifacts and things like that happens and it contributes to economic growth of the land.”
Giving details of the activities lined up for the celebration, the Chairman, Ibadan Festival 2025 Committee, Chief Abiodun Alli, said the Council had earlier paid a royal homage on the Olubadan to seek his royal blessing for the festival.
He said other activities include: Jumat Service, medical outreach/ distribution of palliatives to pre-registered members of the affiliate clubs (Friday, May 9th), Amala Day (Saturday May 10th), Church Thanksgiving service (Sunday May 11th) Education and Talent hunt programme (Monday) Youth conference, stage play, beauty pageant, Business Dinner, Ibadan conference and March past which will be the grand finale on Saturday May 17th.
Chief Alli explained that while the Business dinner while bring together Chief Executive Officers and top business moguls to rub minds with owners and operators of Small and Medium Scale Entrepresis, to open their eyes to business and investment opportunities in the city, he noted that the Ibadan Conference will focus on land matters and encouraging the people to stop outright sales of land.
He said, “The business dinner for this year is strictly a business dinner because we have invited top CEOs in various organizations, both within Ibadan and outside Ibadan. The chairman of the event is Chief Mrs. Samson, the Managing Director of BOVAS. And of course, the keynote speaker on that day is Dr. Habib Olamitoye, the owner of Ibadan Central Hospital and Academy Suite Hotels.
“They will be sharing insights into their success stories and help mentor young business owners and interest to do better.
“On Friday, we are going to come back here for Ibadan conference. And our focus on Friday is on land. Land is our own good in Ibadan land. We are going to focus on land. We want a situation where we discourage people from selling the same land to two, three people. That is going to come up here.
“And of course, we also encourage our people to lease their land rather than sell their land to outsiders. And we have invited all the stakeholders in this area to this place. The managers, the Baales, the judges, the police, all the people that are involved, the buyers of land, the sellers of land, our own son in Ibadan land.
“We are going to have a keynote speech on that particular day and Barrister Musbau Adetumbi, SAN will give the keynote speech on Friday. And on Saturday, that will be the grand finale where all of us go to the Liberty Stadium. And there will be three events that will happen that day. One is the parade of the clubs. And we are going to pick the first, the second, and the third. And of course, we have several musicians. They are actually the brand ambassadors for this year’s festival.
“All of them are going to entertain us on that day. And apart from that, they have also produced a single for Ibadan. And that single will be launched on Saturday.”
