ILESA was aglow, yesterday, as thousands of indigenes trooped out to welcome Action Congress, AC, governorship candidate, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, and Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, to the Iwude Ogun festival.

The event, which came to a climax at the palace of the Owa of Ilesa, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, witnessed thousands of indigenes singing and dancing. Popular juju music maestro, Sunny Ade, was at the bandstand during the event, which witnessed the invocation of Ogun, the Yoruba god of Iron. Aregbesola and Soyinka came from Lagos to Ilesa in a yellow colour helicopter, which landed at the Ilesa Grammar School, where thousands of the politician's supporters were waiting for him.

As soon as the helicopter landed, Aregbesola's supporters swarmed round it and burst into songs and dance even as security operatives had a hectic time controlling the surging crowd. The crowd followed Aregbesola's motorcade from the school to the palace of Aromolaran, on foot, bringing commercial activities along the major roads to a standstill.

Speaking at Owa's palace after paying homage to the traditional ruler, Soyinka and Aregbesola hinged moral reawakening in the country on cultural renaissance.