According to Oba Alamon Obatala, the group had announced the festival on the radio for four consecutive days, warning people to stay away from the procession route.
A recent festival in Ile-Ife, Osun State, turned violent when Isese worshippers were attacked by suspected Muslims, leaving six people injured.
During a telephone conversation with Oba Alamo Obatala, a prominent Isese traditional worshipper in the town, SaharaReporters learned that the incident occurred on January 20, 2025, during a Obatala Festival.
According to Oba Alamon Obatala, the group had announced the festival on the radio for four consecutive days, warning people to stay away from the procession route.
However, despite the warnings, the worshippers were attacked with stones as they passed through the Idio Market and More Area. The attack resulted in six injuries, including a woman who was severely hurt.
Pictures and videos obtained by SaharaReporters show the woman’s head was bloodied after she was allegedly stoned during the attack.
Oba Alamon Obatala claimed that Muslims were behind the attack, citing previous threats and attacks by Islamic extremists in 2022.
He said: “You know the national museum takes custody of all these Orisa (deities) because of stealing. So whenever we want to do our festival, we normally write a letter to the museum to give us the Orisa and we will bring the Orisa to the Obatala temple.
“There is a taboo and divine rule prohibiting Ilare indigenous people from seeing the Orisa during the festival. I am trying to tell you the genesis of this problem. This is where the Muslims are involved. This is where we have been having problems with the Muslims since 2022.
“We have a divine rule prohibiting Ilare indigene from seeing Orisa. Pregnant women are also barred from seeing Orisa. And for that reason, we always notify people during the festival to stay away from us.
“So on this particular day during the 2022 festival, we were attacked by some Muslims. That was the first attack that was reported and since then the Muslims and their leaders have been threatening us not to do any Isese festival in Ile-Ife. Thank God, we resolved that incident that day.
“But since 2022, the Muslims have been stopping us from doing our Isese rites in Ile-Ife and this is not possible.
“Now, I will summarize it back to this year. It was the day we were carrying Orisa Obatala to his first settlement. The was on January 20, 2025. We called that day ‘Ipinwo Day’. Before the festival, we announced it on radio and palace guards also helped in telling the people about it. We did radio announcement for four consecutive days before the festival. The prior notice is to let people know that between this time and that time, there is going to be a festival. And we always do that every year to notify everyone.
“People see us whenever we are doing our rites. We warn people to stay in their houses or shops and not obstruct us because we want to prevent people from hijacking the Orisa. That was the reason for telling people to stay away from us. You know, if people are many, we won’t know who is who again. And they can use that opportunity to steal or hijack the Orisa and if this happens, national museum management will hold us responsible. The Orisa costs millions of naira now.
“For that reason, if you are not an Isese worshipper, you will be asked to stay away. This is why we notify people to stay away from the road we always take to get to the shrine. We always take off from Obatala Temple and pass through Ita Ologun, and then to Idio Market, then to More Area, this is where the police area command is located, that is our movement.
“But that day as we moved past Idio Market, one woman started a problem and it was settled immediately. But as we approached More Area, people started throwing stones at us from under the three and from inside nearby houses. I did not see those stoning us because I was inside a car leading our people. It was those at the back that were hit by the stones.
“Also, when we were coming back at night around 9 pm, the throwing of the stones increased. That was when the woman was attacked. My car, a Toyota Highlander, was also hit. My windscreen was damaged. That was how we were stoned. And there is a high tendency that Muslims were behind it because it is not possible for Isese worshippers to attack us. And we have never had an issue of attack from Christians before. It was late at night, making it difficult to see who was throwing the stones.
“People were wounded a lot but the injury sustained by one elderly woman was the most severe. Six of our members were wounded.”
A prominent Yoruba blogger and member of Muslim community in Yorubaland, Ojulowo Omo Yoruba TV, said there has been no evidence to support that the Isese worshippers were truly stoned by Muslims as alleged.
He said: “We have asked if anyone knows the woman that was attacked or witnessed the attack, or any evidence to show that it was truly a Muslim that threw the stones, or any video to show that Muslims went to the festival to disrupt it.
“We asked them to bring out the evidence, or they should call us. None of the complaints have come forward.
“We have also investigated the matter, but we are yet to see any evidence to show that Muslims attacked the Isese worshippers in Ile-Ife
“There is no genuine Muslim, who understands Islamic teaching that accepts that the Quran is his book of guidance, that accepts Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as his prophet that will attend the Obatala Festival.”
“The attack may be from those who are just bearing Islamic names but not really practising Islam. Please, we should stop spreading misinformation we have not verified to damage the reputation of other people’s religion. This will always lead to more chaos and hatred in the society,” he added.
Efforts to get the Osun Police Command Spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, for comment on Friday failed.