I Love My Ogori Culture and People – Major General Erema Akerejola

• Celebrate Daughter’s Initiation During Ovia-Osese Festival 2025

By Abubakar Suleman

In a well celebrated festival in Ogori community in kogi state recently, known as Ovia-Osese, Nigerian Trend online newspaper was on ground to witness the yearly ceremony and decided to visit one of the renowned military officer at his country home in Ogori township to celebrate his daughter’s initiation into womanhood. An interview was conducted with, the Chief of Logistics, Nigerian Army, General Erema Akerejola before the commencement of the widely celebrated festival where Major General Akerejola openly declared that “he love his Ogori culture and people and expressed strong feelings of pride and solidarity for his people and culture.

The ogori-born Military officer, Major General Erema Akerejola expressed his utmost feelings for his people, saying as an Ogorian, he respects the culture, ethnicity, and national identity as a Nigerian.

Major General Erema Akerejola who was in a blue traditional attire with adire cap to match sitted among his age group brothers in preparation to attend his daughter’s Ovia-Osese initiation on Saturday told our reporter that he has benefited in countless ways from being seen as someone who was born and bred in Ogori community.

He said he always identify with his people any time there is occasions or festival because they are his brothers and sisters, In his own words, “I’m proud of my people,” and i love my Ogori culture, because despite that l am well placed and positioned, an aged Ogori woman who so much believed in the culture and tradition, came to me and said, “Akerejola, your daughter is one of the girls participating in Ovia-Osese this year, 2025, this is my contribution of N500 naira”, she gave me the little money but in our culture, it is not little”, he said.

According to him, “I certainly feel more happy when I remember the numbers of people at the village who trooped into my house to give their contributions and support to the celebration of my daughter’s initiation during Ovia-Osese festival, he however extends his gratitude and appreciation to all of them for their special gifts and contributions to the success of the yearly festival”.

“So, ultimately, being an Ogorian, I belong to an aged group, I strongly identify as part of my group whose shared, multifaceted history as defined by cultural, religious, ethnic, sexual, and ideological diversity. I can say I love Ogori culture in its entirety, but I strongly believe we have an obligation to one another to contribute to a common good. I believe in a culture that demands respect for our differences of opinion and desire for freedom, it is a meaningful feeling of community and national pride”.

Responding to the question on his contribution to the growth and development of ogori-Land, especially on the dilapidated roads in Ogori Community, leading to comprehensive High school, Ogori, Major General General Akerejola noted whenever it rains the students find it difficult to move freely when going home, they have to remove there shoes, and I thought it wise that something should be done to ameliorate the suffering of the students.

“You will see students holding their shoes walking bare footed because they want to preserve their shoes and when they reached the market area they now washed their legs and put on the shoes.

Major Gen. Akerejola said Seeing the scenario, he decided to rehabilitate the bad road in order to help the students who are the future leaders of the community and indeed the state and Nigeria at large.

Though, he observed that Govt alone can not provide all the need of any community saying he has to come in to help rehabilitate the road.

When asked what motivated his philanthropic service to his community, Gen. Akerejola said it is geared toward helping the people especially the downtrodden to enable them have access to better life and make things easier for them in his own little way.

He however called on other wealthy men in Ogori to come out to help the poor and the less privileged ones in the society and also contribute to the growth and development of Ogori community.

He said doing this, will connect the people to essential services, opens up economic opportunities, and reduces the burden of poor infrastructures in the community.

“We all see ourselves as part of a community in Nigeria, it is model that stands with everybody so, I’m very proud to have come from Ogori community, here in kogi state. That’s the kind of identity that builds bridges. And that’s the kind of community I can wholeheartedly continued to love”, he happily said.

“As we know, my daughter is one of the maidens being initiated this year at the 2025 Ovia Osese cultural festival and I am very happy and a proud father, though, I was surprised when people in the community presented different gifts to me including little money as 500 naira and I was highly elated”, he stressed.

He noted that the people from his community did not see him as a serving military officer or already made person as they continue to bring gift to him as part of their contributions for the initiation of my daughter into womanhood. .

Major General Akerejola promise to always come with his military colleagues to visit Ogori especially during Ovia-Osese festival assuring that next year more people will be part of the festival, according to him, “this will create more awareness to the larger society especially on the need to preserve our culture and to uphold our tradition”.