Odi town in Odi Local Government Area of Bayelsa State could be said to be the biggest town in Bayelsa State. Like other towns of the riverine areas, its main occupations are farming fishing, woodcraft and trading.
Like many other traditional festival, the “Ogori Ba Uge” is one that cannot be forgotten by the people of Odi.
Ogori is the Izon name for buffalo. And literarily translated the “Ogori Ba Uge” means “the festival of the killing of the buffalo”.
Odi used to be a peaceful community with people going about their normal businesses until one day in mid 1953, when a woman named Dorun went to farm and did not return. But reports from another woman in a nearby farm came to the relatives of Dorun stating that she heard a sharp cry from Dorun’s direction crying for help that she was being killed. By the time the woman got there, she saw Dorun’s scattered and lifeless body on the ground with foot marks of what was later described as that of a buffalo around it. The news of Dorun’s death spread round the town and able-bodied volunteers went to the bush and carried the corpse home.
This was a great shock to the town as people wondered why the buffalo would come and kill the woman.
A few months later, the buffalo attacked and killed another woman. This aroused more interest in the town and they now sought for means to kill the Ogori, by all available means, which include traps and hunters going into the bushes with dame guns. All proved abortive. Instead the buffalo increased its activities in terrorizing the community. It now came around the town, and on the roads terrorizing farmers on their way to their farms. As at this time, it had already killed three people.
Hunters were invited from neighbouring villages and even up to the northern bow and arrow experts to kill the Ogori, with huge price tags placed on it. But all efforts failed. Instead the Ogori became fierce. More baffling was the fact that the Ogori attacked only Odi indigenes. There was total breakdown of economic and socio-cultural activities and people lived in fear not knowing when next the Ogori would attack.
In fact, there was the belief that it was a human being that was transforming into the buffalo to attack people. And it was believed to have been seen in different places at the same time.
It was in 1957 after it had killed four women and one man that a concrete plan was made towards its killing. The Odi welfare Union in Lagos intervened in the matter. They were informed by one late Gwa of Odi about one Mallam D’Tara of Birnin Kebi in far away Niger Republic.
The union then met and one Chief Nengi Agedah, who was present in the last meeting, volunteered to make the trip. The union mobilized him and he went in search of the Mallam. He went, met the mallam, who prepared charms for him to use on the Ogori. He was instructed to bury the charm at the centre of the town before talking to anybody in town. Assuring him that the Ogori was already dead spiritually.
On his way back, he stopped over in Lagos to brief them that he had a successful trip, after which he left for the village. On getting home, he did as was instructed with the charm before he went to his house.
A few days later, the beast believed to be hypnotized was seen by a small girl named Finetiti grazing grass like a cow near a church compound. She called her father, who recognized the beast to be the buffalo. He alerted the town hunters and about six of them came with dame guns and attacked the buffalo. A shot by one Akara Edike got it at the head and the Ogori fell.
The killing of the Ogori was celebrated with serious jubilation. This was on the 27th of July, 1957, after five years of unrest.
It is most significant that the Ogori had killed its victims a particular day in the four market days of the town. And it was also killed on that same day. Since then the 27th of July has been set aside as a unique date celebrate the killing of the Ogori.
The festival normally lasts for seven days beginning from the 27th. The activities include the very popular boat cruise known as “Deripeter”. The boat (most recently a barge) cruises from one end of the town to the other amidst dancing, games and trading going on inside. It normally returns to its take-off point in the evening.
There used to the significant burning of the Ogori in which all the women in the town contribute firewood, which they use for a burn fire. There are also activities like cultural dances, masquerade displays, traditional dance procession (Egele) and traditional moonlight games. There are also novelty food ball matches and most recently the popular “No big man for Road” in which a mobile musical set plays across the town with everybody irrespective of age and class dances to the music as it gets to you. A circular musical band performs on the last day of the festival.
There is a general belief of the people of Odi that if the festival is not celebrated, some harm will come to the people.
Infact, there have been cases where people who feature prominently in the activities of the festival fell sick when the planning committee contemplated putting off their festival for that year.
The festival is normally a time of home coming as every son and daughter comes home from far and wide to participate in the festival.
It is worthy of note that Chief Nengi Agedah automatically became addressed as Mallam D’Tara after the killing of the Ogori. And this name overshadowed his real name.
