Laide Bakare named Face of Osun Osogbo Festival 2025
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo
Renowned Nollywood actress and cultural icon Laide Bakare has been named the official face of the 2025 edition of the Osun Osogbo Festival.
In a statement posted on the Osun State Government’s official X handle, @OsunGov, the festival’s marketing team unveiled a bold new campaign titled “I’m Laide. I’m Culture.”
“The countdown has officially begun. The globally revered Osun Osogbo Festival—a sacred 600-year-old cultural experience recognized by UNESCO—is set to return this August 2025, and this year, it arrives with a bold, youthful twist.”
According to the statement, the launch video—now making waves across social media—presents Bakare in a vibrant, Afro-modern production that blends glamour with symbolism and ancestral pride, redefining what it means to represent tradition with contemporary flair.
“This isn’t just a celebration—it’s a collaboration,” Bakare says in the campaign. “We’re opening the doors to fashion, tech, beauty, media, creators, and brands to join us in elevating Africa’s biggest spiritual festival into a global movement.”
Scheduled for August 2025 in Osogbo, the UNESCO-recognized Osun Osogbo Festival will retain its sacred elements, including the historic procession to the Osun Sacred Grove, while expanding its cultural footprint with new events such as the Cultural Glow Pageant, a Tech Fusion Experience, an Entrepreneurial Fair, a Celebrity Walk of Elegance, and a Pan-African Roundtable and Global Stakeholder Summit.
The organizers said these additions reflect the festival’s growing ambition—not just as a spiritual pilgrimage but as a pan-African platform for commerce, youth engagement, diplomacy, and global brand integration.
With over 100,000 expected attendees and millions more reached through television, digital platforms, and streaming services, the 2025 festival offers what organizers describe as an unmatched sponsorship opportunity. They added that brands will have direct access to Nigeria’s youth market, diaspora audiences across the Americas and Europe, and high-impact visibility across digital content, red carpet events, and media coverage—all backed by royal and cultural endorsement.
