The Eyo festival is not what you think it is.
By ADEBUKOLA ADENAYA
Some events happen every year. The Eyo Festival is not one of them.
As a child, I faintly remember attending the Eyo Festival in Lagos. I was only happy for another opportunity to wear new clothes, as I was too young to understand the values of the festival.
On December 27, 2025 at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos—during the concluding phase of the Adamu Oríṣà Play, it finally made sense why Eyo is never just another festival in the ever-bustling city of Lagos.
Unlike many cultural celebrations, the Eyo Festival is not an annual event. It is staged only at significant moments in Lagos history, often to honour the passing of distinguished Lagos indigenes or mark major communal transitions. Since the early 2000s, it has appeared only in select years. This includes 2000, 2009, 2011, and 2017, reinforcing the idea that Eyo is convened by purpose, not just routine.
There is an ongoing historical debate about the exact origin of the festival. However, records clearly show that 1854 marked the first documented celebration which was held in honour of Oba Akitoye, the then Oba of Lagos. At its core, the Eyo institution was conceived as a spiritual rite, symbolizing the accompaniment of the dead as they transition into the ancestral realm. This foundation explains why the festival has always carried solemnity, discipline, and sacred restraint.
Before the main public spectacle known as the Adamu Oríṣà Play, there is ÌJÁDE ÒPÁ ẸYÒ—the sacred declaration of the celebration, which ushers the week-long procession that prepares the spiritual and ceremonial ground for the festival. This phase is not performative. It signals that what follows is rooted in reverence, order, and ancestral obligation.
Each Eyo masquerade is distinctly marked by sacred elements: the Agà (the wide-brimmed hat), Ibojù (face veil), the Opámbàtá (staff of authority and guidance), and the Ìrọ̀pàlẹ̀ (symbolic footwear). These are not mere costumes but ritual items reinforcing the spiritual identity of the masquerades as messengers between the physical and ancestral worlds.
At the heart of the festival are the five principal and sacred Eyo Oríṣà: Adímú, Lábà Oníkò, Ológèdé, and Agẹ̀rẹ̀. Alongside them are the Eyo Ìgà, representing chiefs, lineages, and land-owning families across Lagos. From Lagos Island to the Mainland, these groups actively participate in the Eyo Festival, not by convenience, but by inherited responsibility reaffirming loyalty to tradition and the Oba of Lagos as custodian of continuity. Amongst all of these, the Eyo Adímú is the head of all with its custodians being the leader of the procession rites and determinant of the festival taking place, hence the Eyo festival being called “Adamu Oríṣà Play”.
For many young people, attending the festival this year was also an act of rediscovery. Despite years of narratives describing Eyo as evil or idolatrous—often shaped by westernization and religious misunderstanding, the younger generation showed up both as participants in the various Eyo and as attendees. They do this neither to mock or rebel, but to reconnect, learn, and maybe to shoot content for their social media pages.
The Eyo Festival 2025, dedicated to the memories of Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Sir Michael Otedola and Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, remained faithful to the festival’s original purpose: honouring legacy, leadership, and service to Lagos.
Beyond the trending contents, funny clips, viral moments, and even the abuse of the Eyo regalia by some, we must remember that in its truest form, the Eyo Festival is about the preservation of culture, tradition, and the ancestral spirits of Eko (Lagos)—a legacy truly worth protecting.
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