Women in the Ijebu-Ode area of Ogun State have been urged to limit their movement from 1:00 p.m. during the upcoming Annual Agemo Festival.
This year’s celebration, scheduled to hold from Tuesday, July 1 to Wednesday, July 2, 2025, maintains the traditional restriction that prohibits women from seeing the Agemo masquerades.
According to reports, the festival—accompanied by rituals—is held in reverence of the Agemo deity, regarded as a spiritual guardian of children and a protector of the Ijebu people’s future through divine blessings.
The traditional routes include Epe/ljebu-Ode, Isiwo/ljebu-Ode, ljebu Imusin/ljebu-Ode, Ago-Iwoye/Oru/ljebu-Ode, Ago-Iwoye/Pepsi Junction/Imodi-Imosan, Okun-Owa/Agoro/Imodi-Imosan and Odogbolu/ljebu-Ode.
Processions, music, dance, and the appeasement of Agemo and the ancestors are among the many rites, rituals, and performances that take place during the festival.
In a news release issued by the Olabisi Onabanjo University and signed by the Deputy Registrar, Corporate Affairs Division Kunle Olayeni, asked the campus community to exercise caution and vigilance.
The institution requested that all female members, particularly employees and students, abide by the rule.
Part of the statement reads, “ This is to inform members of the University Community that the Annual Agemo Festival in Ijebuland will commence traditional rites from Tuesday, 1st July to Wednesday, 2nd July, 2025, with a procession through designated routes in some towns in the Ijebu axis of Ogun State.
“In view of the above, all female members of the University Community, especially Staff and Students, ae strongly advised to comply with this directive”.