NO fewer than 60,000 visitors are expected in Oyo for the maiden Oyo Empire Day celebration in December, with the organisers projecting 20,000 attendees daily.
The three-day celebration, an initiative of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, is designed to reconnect people of Oyo ancestry across Nigeria and the Diaspora with their ancestral roots.
This was disclosed by the chairman of the Central Working Committee, Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, on Wednesday at a media interaction held at the Palace of the Alaafin.
He said the even was conceived by the Alaafin as an annual platform for people of Oyo origin to reconnect with their families, celebrate shared heritage and explore cultural and economic development.
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He announced that programme would henceforth be held annually on the third Thursday, Friday and Saturday of December, to ensure sustainability and proper planning.
Ogunmola clarified that the celebration is not an Oyo-Atiba town festival, but a pan-Oyo homecoming targeting communities with historical links to the old Oyo Empire in Kwara, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, Kogi, other parts of Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Togo and the wider diaspora.
He stressed that the initiative does not seek to impose Oyo identity on other communities.
He said that more than 100 ancestral family compounds in Oyo have been sensitised to receive returning descendants, while a large identification map/banner will be mounted in front of the palace to help visitors locate their family roots.
He stated that the programme is structured for three different experiences.
He noted that day one of the event would begin with a carnival-like procession from Owode to the palace featuring Gelede, Egungun, Sekere, Dundun, Bata, Ijala chants and horse riding.
Alaafin would formally declare the celebration open, while artists will portray the first five Alaafins based on historical records. A replica of Oyo-Ile, the historic capital, will be on display within the palace complex.
He said that day two would focus on history, scholarship, theatre and youth with lectures, colloquia and a performance of Ajagunla, the epic historical work associated with the late Duro Ladipo.
There will also be youth-oriented entertainment featuring an international musician of Oyo ancestry, while the day-three of the event will be the grand finale at the Durbar Stadium with royal, cultural, family and community parades.
Meanwhile, Professor Akin Alao, of Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, disclosed that an academic colloquium themed: ‘Oyo Empire: Yoruba Identity, Empire and Civilisation,’ will be part of the celebration.
He listed participating institutions to include Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Ajayi Crowther University, LAUTECH, Bowen University, University of Ilorin, Kola Daisi University and University of Ibadan.
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