Omi Osa - The Mystic River

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Africa is home to lots of mysticism. it's ironic however that a lot of cultural heritage has been lost and in turn the efficacy of ancient beliefs have been eroded. Reality has gradually become myth and subsequently renown tales of valour are now mere legends.

This arcticle is a true llstory that happened in my ancestral home about a Mystic River in a village called Aherin, a suburb of Aiyede-Opa area of Bunu local government area of Kogi State in Nigeria, West Africa. Aiyede-Opa is about 30 minutes drive from Kabba. Before the people of Aherin migrated to Aiyede-Opa in the late 1950s, they were in their former ancestral home in the forest where their fore-fathers originated.
This village is home to a river called Omi-Osa.

This river was the main source of potable water, yet is so mysterious that people were forbidden to fetch water in the hot afternoon, Should anybody wants to fetch water, it’s either in the mornings or evenings. As the story goes my Grandmother and her younger sister went to fetch water one day in the afternoon from the river, my grandmother told me that on reaching the river, an extraordinary large fish lurched out from the water, shooting towards my grandmother’s sister direction. Both of them ran home, but the surprising thing is that my Grandma told her parents that she saw nothing, while the sister insisted that she saw a fish that came out of the water. The shock of the incident made her sick for some days.

Another episode that was told me of the river from those in my family who went there in the afternoon goes thus:

My granduncle who is still alive (Pa Joseph) and is almost 110 years of age - My family is blessed with longevity as my great grandmother who is far older is also alive and well - went to hunt for Crabs with his friends on a sunny afternoon. On getting there, he saw a big hole by the bank of the river and thought that crabs would be there. He dipped his hand into the hole, expecting to grab a crab so to speak, he felt his hand being grabbed and the entire arm was stuck in the crab-hole. He was petrified and his friends equally alarmed. His friends tried to pull his hand out of the hole but no matter how hard they tried nothing could be done. Some of his friends ran back to the village trying to get help while the others still tried everything they could for their friend to no avail. Help arrived in the forms of the villagers and elders who were available, some of the able-bodied men also tried their best to remove the hand from the hole only to amount in failure but it wasn’t until an elder came along that granduncle’s hand came free, oddly enough he didn’t try to physically pull the hand out, he loudly said “Remove your hand so that i will put my own when you are tired” immediately the hand was released to the surprise and relieve of everybody especially my granduncle. Soon afterwards everybody hurried back to the village, the incident reminding them all about the general rule of not going near the river in the afternoons.

This mysterious river has been associated with many stories and tales, be they facts or fictional imaginations for ages but perhaps the most interesting fact of this river till date was its mysterious transformation from a very big river to a small pond-like pool which was as a result of a probably very doubtful man who will later become the king of the same region. The story is told below.

This mysterious river from time immemorial has always been a wonderful home for fish and also according to the legends and tales from the village spiritualists of those days, the river (river spirit or guardian) had warned the villagers never to fish from the river or kill any fish in its waters and the villagers heeded that specific warning. One fateful day, a man (who later became king) was sorely tempted to get some fish out of the river because of how big and plenty they were in the water, so he went on and killed some of the fish for himself, but from that very day onwards the river began to rapidly shrink in size causing the villagers to panic in fear as to what happened. After consulting the spiritualist in the village they were informed that someone offended the river by killing some fish in its waters, and to this very day the once mighty river became a small pool of water. Since then the formerly feared river became a bathing ground for farmers when they were returning back home from the farm.