An Ogun State High Court, sitting in Ipokia Local Government Area, has declared the daytime parade of Oro festival and its restriction of people’s movement as illegal.
The court ordered that Oro festival or ritual can only be celebrated between midnight and 4a.m, subject to the approval and an undertaking to maintain peace.
Justice Sikiru Owodunni, who delivered the judgment, also ordered that Oro worshippers have no constitutional power to impose curfew on other people.
The suit was filed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Muslim Ummah in Ipokia against the town’s Oro worshippers.
Counsels to the applicants, Kayode Samson and David Folalu, told the court that the respondents performed their Oro festival in the bush and in the middle of the night.
Samson averred that the respondents (Oro worshippers) claimed that women and men who do not belong to the cult are not permitted to see the Oro.
The lawyer said the respondents allegedly extended the celebration into the main part of the communities and imposed daytime curfew for the celebration.
He added: ‘When the Oro festival is on, women and men who do not belong to the cult are compelled to stay indoors. Businesses, churches, mosques, government corporations, schools and other public places are also compelled to be closed down, thereby depriving the applicants of their freedom of movements and lawful assembly.”
The court ordered a “perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their privies, agents and cohorts from declaring or imposing a daytime curfew or in any manner interfering with the fundamental rights of the applicants to freedom of movements”.
It added: “It is hereby declared that Oro festival or ritual can only be celebrated in Ipokia, Idi-Iroko, Ihunbo, Ifonyintedo, Ogosa, Koko, Ilashe, Ibatefin, Ago Sasa, Oniru, Mede, Ajegunle and other villages thereunder between the hours of 12a.m. and 4a.m in the night, subject to government approval and an undertaking to maintain peace.”