Ademola Adeleke of Osun says his administration will address all lapses identified within the Osun-Osogbo grove ahead of the 2026 festival.
By Joshua Oladipo
Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun says his administration will address all lapses identified within the Osun-Osogbo grove ahead of the 2026 festival.
The governor said this while delivering his speech at the grand finale of the festival on Friday.
Adeleke, represented by his deputy, Kola Adewusi, said that renovation would be carried out within the grove to make it look more attractive.
“The festival is not strange to us, as it has been recognised globally, and my administration will work on all lapses identified with the grove.
“I want to assure you all that we will do the needful, especially the rehabilitation of the road leading to the grove,” he said.
Adeleke also appreciated all the stakeholders who made the grand finale of the festival a success.
The governor commended the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, for the success of the festival, with a promise of more support.
In his response, Oba Olanipekun praised the governor for paying more attention to the Osun Osogbo festival.
The event, which started on July 28, came to an end with a young maiden, Arugba (a virgin female girl), with a calabash on her head as a symbolic sacrifice to the river goddess.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Osun-Osogbo festival, whose history dates back many centuries, is usually celebrated in a grove on the outskirts of Osogbo between July and August.
It is among the last of the sacred forests that adjoined the edges of most Yoruba cities before extensive urbanisation.
In recognition of its global significance and cultural value, the Sacred Grove was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
For the people of Osogbo land, the festival represents the traditional cleansing of the town and the cultural reunion of the people with their ancestors and founders of the Osogbo Kingdom.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Dotun Babayemi has called for the preservation of cultural artefacts and relics of the Yoruba race.
Babayemi, in a statement on Friday, said that such move would help to secure the future of the race, especially in the area of the Yoruba language, which he noted was gradually going into extinction.
He described the annual celebration of Osun Osogbo as a worthy step towards keeping part of the history of the race alive through cultural renaissance.
Babayemi, one of the APC governorship aspirants for the August 8, 2026 election in the state, congratulated the indigenes of Osogbo for the successful hosting of the festival.
“Our culture is our identity and our selling point. This we must all strive to protect and preserve.
“It is our common ancestral heritage, which separates us from others, and this we must keep jealously,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)