Kunle Adelabu
As time for another edition of Remireke, an important traditional and cultural festival in Ijede area of ljede Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Prince Ibikunle Kabir, the Eleku of Ijede has appealed to the Lagos State government and the Ijede Local Council Authorities for support towards a successful festival.
Eleku Ibikunle, who was installed as the traditional head of the Agbo Remireke traditional group, emphasised that the celebration of the major triennial cultural festival being held in Ijede, Lagos State, Nigeria, brings peace and economic prosperity to the town and its people.
He made the appeal in an interview with THE IMPACT in Ijede, during the week.
This year, the festival will run between December 26th, 2026 to January 5th, 2027. However, according to Eleku Ibikunle, traditional rites and other activities will begin by December 19th like Jigbo parade, local diet day, games (Ludo, Ayo Olopon, table Tennis, Draught etc) and walk for fitness that will be led by the Alajede, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Hon.) Adefarasn Saheed Hassan, the Executive Chairman, Ijede LCDA, Hon. Motunrayo Gbadebo -Alogba and the representative of Ikorodu Constituency II, Hon. Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA), among others.
“Though, before that December 26th, we have some traditional rights that are coming up, like parading of Jigbo for nine days. That will start by December 19th. So Jigbo will be parading around the town to create awareness that Remireke is coming up.
“This is a prominent and an agelong festival cherished by the people of Ijede. It is used in worshipping the river goddess. In Ijede, we do all the traditional rites and other necessary things at the waterfront.
“We do this to make sure that there is peace, prosperity and unity within the town. Once we do that, there will be peace in Ijede and businesses will blossom. That is why the community has kept faith with the celebration of the festival”.
Eleku Remireke also revealed that they are bringing every member of Ijede community into the celebration this year with some activities that people can take part in, emphasizing that the purpose is to use the celebration to promote unity.
“We are working towards bringing people to participate fully in the celebration this time with some pre -festival events. We are planning to organise traditional local diet day; traditional games for all our elders to bring them together and promote peace. This is part of our efforts in making sure that Ijede is one. The issues going on with the royal houses in Ijede have caused so much rift. This is part of our ways to see how we can bring them together.
“The issue of Obaship is another one, and it is normal to have six or seven people contesting for position of an Oba, but it is just one person that can be picked to sit on the throne and that we have in Alajede Adefarasin Saheed Hassan , and we hope to use this celebration happening in the first year of his reign to unite the community”.
He further explained that they are planning to stage a big and memorable Remireke festival because it has not been held for many years due to the passage of former Alajede of Ijede, Oba Oresanya and later, the former Eleku which also took a while to resolve with his own emergence.
“So, this is going to be the first festival that I will be organizing as an Eleku after my installation this year by the Alajede who will also be experiencing first Remireke under his reign and we are putting in place a thorough planning to make sure that we have a bigger, better and louder festival .
“To achieve this, Eleku Ibikunle has appealed to the people of Ijede for their cooperation and the government for support so as to have a memorable festival.
“We are appealing to our people for their cooperation and we are seeing that they are ready to cooperate and support us. Then, the only thing we are expecting is for the government to give us back up, and full support to make sure this festival is sustained.
“We want the government to give us all the necessary support for the traditional and cultural festival to be preserved and sustained and one of the ways through which they can help is to fund it and provide logistics support. We want every support to make this year’s edition louder and in this regard, we have written to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and we are also expecting the support of local council authorities”.
Also speaking, Mr Shamsudeen Olalekan Lawal, a chieftain of Remireke, stressed the importance of Remireke in terms of unity, peace, prosperity, seamless delivery by women and community development.
He appealed to the people of Ijede, to support the new Eleku and be fully part of the festival which, according to him, has been a source of unity in Ijede from time immemorial.
