A new church, named the Ogbanje Church of All Nations, has recently been established in Nnewi, Anambra State. The congregation held its inaugural worship service at the church, where they joyously sang and danced to songs praising popular river goddesses in Nnewi.
According to a video currently trending on social media, members of the church rejoiced and danced to the tunes of songs composed in praise of goddesses of some popular rivers in Nnewi.
While addressing the congregation at the uncompleted building, the cleric, presiding over the service, advised the congregation to worship what they know, rather than what they don’t know.
The cleric, who spoke in Igbo and did not mention his name, emphasized the importance of connecting with their roots and urged people to compose songs that honor the rivers and goddesses they are familiar with, rather than blindly following distant beliefs. He said, “People usually sing and dance to songs composed with names and places in the Bible while they do not actually know who, what, or where they are and what they represent. It is high time we started going back to our culture and tradition.”
Together with the congregation, he mentioned some names of rivers and some river goddesses in the area including Obò River, Mmiri Ele, Orasò River, Mmiri Edo, Ofala River, Ota, and Ezu River, among others.
While proudly identifying as an Ogbanje, the cleric claimed that he and other people who were Ogbanje “usually shine, prosper and live fine from year to year because they worship the rivers and the goddesses of the rivers they know, rather than those unknown to them.”
