Nigeria’s Osun River: Sacred, revered and increasingly toxic
By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press
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OSOGBO, Nigeria (AP) — Yeyerisa Abimbola has dedicated most of her 58 years on Earth to the Osun, a waterway in deeply religious Nigeria named for the river goddess of fertility. As the deity’s chief priestess, she leads other women known as servants of Osun in daily worship and sacrificial offerings along the riverbank.
But with each passing day, she worries more and more about the river. Once sparkling and clear and home to a variety of fish, today it runs mucky and brown.
“The problem we face now are those that mine by the river,” Abimbola said. “As you can see, the water has changed color.”
The river, which flows through the dense forest of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove — designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 — is revered for its cultural and religious significance among the Yoruba-speaking people predominant in southwestern Nigeria, where Osun is widely worshipped.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Fishermen paddle a canoe near a dam that sources the sacred Osun River in Esa-Odo, Nigeria, on Saturday, May 28, 2022. The river is under constant threat from pollution from waste disposal and other human activity — especially the dozens of illegal gold miners across Osun state whose runoff is filling the river with toxic metals.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Priestess Yeyerisa Abimbola speaks during an interview at the sacred Osun River in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Sunday, May 29, 2022. She has dedicated most of her 58 years on Earth to the Osun, a waterway in deeply religious Nigeria named for the river goddess of fertility. But with each passing day, she worries more and more about the river. “The problem we face now are those that mine by the river,” Abimbola said. “As you can see, the water has changed color.”
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Osunyemi Ifarinu Ifabode, the Osun River chief priest, speaks during an interview in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Monday, May 30, 2022. This year, as a two-week August religious festival neared, authorities announced they had been forced to take the unusual step of telling people to stop drinking the water. "We have written to the state government, the museum on the activities of the illegal miners and for them to take actions to stop them,” Ifabode said.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
A statue of the goddess of fertility stands at the sacred Osun River in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Sunday, May 29, 2022. Some say the goddess heals them of afflictions when they drink or bathe in the river, and others say she can provide wealth or fertility.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
A fishing canoe sits near a dam that sources the sacred Osun River in Esa-Odo, Nigeria, on Saturday, May 28, 2022. The river, which flows through the dense forest of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove — designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 — is revered for its cultural and religious significance among the Yoruba-speaking people predominant in southwestern Nigeria, where the goddess Osun is widely worshipped.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Devotees of the Osun River goddess pray in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Sunday, May 29, 2022. They have little interaction with outsiders, allowing them to devote themselves fully to the goddess, whom they worship daily at a shrine tucked deep inside the grove.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Osunyemi Ifarinu Ifabode, the Osun River chief priest, wears beaded bracelets during an interview in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Monday, May 30, 2022. The river serves as an important “pilgrimage point” for Yoruba people in Nigeria, said Ayo Adams, a Yoruba scholar — especially during the Osun-Osogbo festival, a colorful annual celebration that draws thousands of worshippers and tourists “to celebrate the essence of the Yoruba race.”
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
A devotee of the Osun River goddess throws a white cloth used for sacrifices into the sacred waters in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Sunday, May 29, 2022.
Lekan Oyekanmi - staff, AP
The Osun River flows through the forest of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Monday, May 30, 2022. The nonprofit advocacy group Urban Alert conducted a series of tests on the Osun in 2021 and found it to be “heavily contaminated.” The report found lead and mercury levels in the water at the grove that were, respectively, 1,000% and 2,000% above what's permissible under the Nigerian Industrial Standard.
Lekan Oyekanmi - staff, AP
The Osun River flows through the forest of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Monday, May 30, 2022.
Lekan Oyekanmi - staff, AP
Men take a break at an illegal mining site in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Osun state is home to some of Nigeria’s largest gold deposits, and miners in search of gold and other minerals are scattered across swampy areas in remote villages where there is scant law enforcement presence.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Worshippers of the Osun River goddess pray in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Monday, May 30, 2022.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Devotees of the Osun River goddess prepare to perform sacrifices for a woman draped in a white cloth in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Sunday, May 29, 2022. One servant of Osun, who goes by the name Oluwatosin, said the river brought her a child when she was having difficulties with childbirth. Now a mother of two, she intends to remain forever devoted to the river and the goddess.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Men take a break at an illegal mining site in Osogbo, Nigeria, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Osunyemi Ifarinu Ifabode, the chief priest of the Osun River, says illegal mining has polluted the sacred waterway, and he advises worshippers not to drink from it.
Sunday Alamba - staff, AP
Fishermen cast a net near a dam that sources the sacred Osun River in Esa-Odo, Nigeria, on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
But it’s under constant threat from pollution from waste disposal and other human activity — especially the dozens of illegal gold miners across Osun state whose runoff is filling the sacred river with toxic metals. Amid lax enforcement of environmental laws in the region, there are also some who use the river as a dumping ground, further contributing to its contamination.
The servants of Osun, made up of women mostly between the ages of 30 and 60, live in a line of one-room apartments along the side of the Osogbo palace, the royal house of the the Osogbo monarch about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) north of the grove and river.
They leave behind everything from their secular lives, including marriages, to serve both the goddess and the king. They have little interaction with outsiders, allowing them to devote themselves fully to the goddess, whom they worship daily at a shrine tucked deep inside the grove.
Often seen in flowing white gowns symbolizing the purity the river represents, the women carry out various tasks for the goddess from dawn to dusk, from overseeing sacrificial offerings, mostly live animals and drinks, to carrying out cultural activities in the Osun’s waters. Some say the goddess heals them of afflictions when they drink or bathe in the river, and others say she can provide wealth or fertility.
One servant of Osun, who goes by the name Oluwatosin, said the river brought her a child when she was having difficulties with childbirth. Now the mother of two children, she intends to remain forever devoted to the river and the goddess.
“It is my belief, and Osun answers my prayers,” Oluwatosin said.
