The Oworo people speak a form of Yoruba and have long ties to Lokoja and its nearby hills and villages. They live near where the Niger and Benue rivers meet, in what is now Kogi State. For generations, people have come into contact here through trade, migration and changes in rule.
Their past also lives in origin stories, local names and festivals. These strands link older ways of life with the needs of people today. The return of the Oluwo festival in 2022 brought one of those links into public view.
The Oworo People and Their Yoruba Heritage
Historians place the Oworo among the Northeast Yoruba, often called the Okun Yoruba. The wider group also includes the Owe, Bunu, Ijumu and Yagba. Their speech and customs have much in common. Yet each also has its own ways of life.
Ann O’Hear has written about the long Oworo, Owe and Bunu presence near the two rivers. She also asked what their roots might tell us about the wider Yoruba past. A shared language, however, does not give every family the same past.
The Oworo also have ties with nearby peoples, including the Nupe, Ebira and Igala. These contacts helped shape the world in which they lived. Today, places such as Agbaja, Apata, Obajana and Karara remain linked through Oworo chiefs and local affairs. Their faiths also vary, with Christianity, Islam and older local beliefs all present in Oworo life.
READ MORE: Ancient & Pre-Colonial Nigeria
Origin Traditions and Memories of Settlement
One Oworo account tells of three brothers who left Ile-Ife to hunt in the area. In this telling, the hunt went well and the brothers made a new home there. The story links that home with the wider Yoruba world.
Another story, known as Ako, tells of people who came together from several places. Some accounts also stress deep local roots. These stories offer different ways to explain how families and villages became part of the same people.
Some scholars also place early Yoruba roots close to the two rivers. Ade Obayemi argued this view, while O’Hear called for more study of what it might mean. The idea does not give every family a proven origin.
The stories therefore carry meaning without giving a single dated family tree. They speak of both movement and belonging. Both themes run through the past of the wider area.
War and Political Change in the Nineteenth Century
During the nineteenth century, Nupe-Fulani military power brought major changes to Oworo life. C. K. Meek’s 1918 assessment, quoted in O’Hear’s research, recalls campaigns in the early 1840s. It describes Mamudu, a son of Malam Dendo, raiding Bunu country and the western edge of Oworo territory.
In that account, the Oworo united under Okpoto of Ika and appear to have avoided the worst of the first raid. Later, Masaba came with a stronger force and brought them under his rule. Okpoto stayed as paramount chief, while Lukwan Isa became an ajele, a representative of the outside ruling power.
Tribute followed. At first, the demands included cowries, shells used as money. Later, rising demands also involved enslaved people when cash payments could not be met.
These pressures changed the ties between chiefs, villages and rulers in Nupe. Local chiefs kept their roles, but now faced a new and often harsh form of outside rule.
Oworo People in Lokoja’s Wider Story
The Oworo have long lived around Lokoja. Historian Anthony Danladi Ali lists them, the Nupe, Hausa and Bassa Nge among the town’s early settlers. He places trade at the heart of the town’s growth.
The rivers helped make that possible. Their meeting point linked routes used by traders and travellers. The hills and nearby villages also formed part of the town’s wider setting. Later arrivals included Igala, Ebira Koto, Afenmai and Yoruba people from areas farther south-west.
Thus, Oworo roots sit within the past of a town shaped by many peoples. Long ties to the area remain part of how the Oworo see themselves. At the same time, the growth of modern Lokoja reflects a wider pattern of movement and trade.
A village’s past and the town’s growth are linked, but they tell different parts of the story. British rule later gave the town a new role. It served as an early administrative centre of Northern Nigeria.
The Revival of the Oluwo Festival
Agbaja holds a central place in Oworo cultural life. On 14 May 2022, it hosted the return of the Oluwo festival after the last celebration in 1999. Writer and festival consultant Denja Abdullahi described the event in The Nation.
Villages came with songs, dances and masquerades. They shared one space, but each brought its own displays. The event also had old ties to farming. In past accounts, people asked for a good harvest before planting.
The 2022 account described Oluwo as a festival held every three years. It was held again in May 2025. Its return brought an old custom back into public life.
In his 2025 account, Abdullahi also discussed the effort needed to keep old customs alive. He urged people to use the festival to build ties within Oworo villages and with their neighbours. Its value, in that view, lay in both shared memory and links between people today.
New Finds in the Hills Around Lokoja
Finds in the ground are also adding to the story. On 17 June 2024, Federal University Lokoja published a report on fieldwork at Rock View hill in Ganaja. Students and staff had worked there during the 2023/2024 school year.
The team found a rock shelter, circular stone remains, broken pottery and animal bones. Trial digging also uncovered charcoal and an upper grinding stone. These finds offer clues to how earlier inhabitants lived and used their surroundings.
However, the report did not say which people had lived there. Nor did it give firm dates for their stay. The finds show signs of earlier life, but do not prove that the site was Oworo.
More work could link these remains with old records and local stories. For now, the site offers a further route into the past.
EXPLORE: Nigerian Civil War
Oworo People and Community Affairs in 2026
Land, chiefs and unity remain part of Oworo public life. In August 2025, the Oworo Foundation raised concerns about land and traditional stools in Ajaokuta, Osara and Lokoja. Blueprint reported the group’s objections and its claims about old ties to those places.
A meeting reported in Punch on 17 May 2026 focused on safety. Oworo rulers and title holders gathered in Lokoja. Among them was the Olu of Oworo, Mallam Mohammed Adoga Baiyerohi. They called for closer work with government and security agencies.
The council also proposed an Oworo Day cultural festival to build unity. This was a plan for a new event, separate from the established Oluwo festival.
Later, Radio Kogi reported the appointment of Daniel Patrick Ajoro as Regent of Otube. In its 26 October 2026 report, the Otube Descendants Union welcomed him to the post. It also credited the Olu of Oworo with his installation. Such events show the part that chiefs and local unions still play.
Conclusion
The Oworo people have long been part of life around Lokoja and the two rivers. Their Yoruba roots and origin stories form one part of that past. Wars and changes in rule form another. Today, the Oluwo festival and local chiefs still express shared ties, within a wider area shaped by many peoples.
Author’s Note
Oluwo’s return shows the work it takes to keep old customs alive. Elders must teach the young, and villages must help plan the events. Agbaja’s festival brings that work into view. It links old ways of life with choices made today, giving the past a public life beyond books and records.
References
Ann O’Hear. “The History of the Okun Yorùbá: Research Directions”. In Yorùbá Identity and Power Politics, edited by Toyin Falola and Ann Genova, University of Rochester Press, 2006, pp. 111–126; publisher’s chapter summary consulted.
Ann O’Hear. “The [Okun] Yoruba and the Peoples of the Niger-Benue Confluence”. Unpublished research chapter, 2003, preserved with the author’s note on the African History Digital Document Portal; includes quotations from Meek’s 1918 Aworo assessment.
Anthony Danladi Ali. “Lokoja: The Historical Antecedents of a Multi-Ethnic Settlement”. Lapai Journal of Central Nigerian History, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2014; author-uploaded text. Also catalogued by Federal University Lokoja.
Kogipedia. Kogi: Every Opportunity, Everyone, Everywhere! Historic Facts and Figures. Undated compilation, Oworo section, pp. 26–28; origin traditions.
Denja Abdullahi. “Oluwo Cultural Festival Comes Alive in Kogi”. The Nation, 5 June 2022.
Denja Abdullahi. “Oworo People Celebrate Tradition and Culture in a Special Way”. The Nation, 18 May 2025.
Terngu Sylvanus Nomishan. “Investigating the Evolutionary History of Lokoja: A Report on Initial Archaeological Fieldwork”. Federal University Lokoja, 17 June 2024.
Kehinde Osasona. “Kogi: Oworo People Raise Alarm over Approval of Traditional Stools, Land Encroachment”. Blueprint, 28 August 2025.
Gbenga Odogun. “Kogi Monarchs Unite to Fight Kidnapping, Banditry”. Punch, 17 May 2026.
Radio Kogi. “Otube Descendants Union Hails Appointment of New Regent”. 26 October 2026.
