Isheri River dries up!!!

Aeriel view of the 'dried up' river

People walking across what used to be a river

I didn’t plan to post this today as Chronicles of Koko is what I had lined up for Mondays but something caught my heart. It is the news that the Ogun Isheri river dried up. I happen to have crossed the supposedly dried up portion of the river this year on a canoe and passing it few days back, I got goose bumps all over. I saw grass where there had been nothing but water, and where I had crossed in a canoe, I saw people walking. It was very eerie. I quickly messaged my friends whom we crossed the river together and they were dumbfounded. From gists I got from the residents, On Friday afternoon, a canoe was transporting people across the river, all of a sudden, the sea weed which has always been in the river started to gather. It kept gathering till it became extremely thick. It went round the canoe and the people in it were stuck. Some of them were already screaming in fact. People around gathered and started to think of how to rescue them. I think somebody tested the solidity of the green, and started walking across it slowly. That was what encouraged people on the canoe to come out. Nobody really knows the cause. Others heard about it on saturday morning and the word spread.

the other side of the river that is flowing

Tourists on the bridge and on the river

Now, what got me writing about is what I saw within Friday to today. Going through my facebook page, I saw a young man who took pictures of himself at the site and wrote “Ogun dried up river chilling things”. My jaw dropped. I saw another post with the pictures of the “dried up” river attached to it. The post read “Don’t give up on God. If our God can dry up a river, there is nothing He cannot do.”hmmn.(I do not doubt the greatness of God of course.) Traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan express has increased greatly. Motorists park their cars to view the wonder. people even walk across the water taking selfies.

Please permit me to make some clarifications.

1.      1.  The river did not dry up- Contrary to what everyone believes, the river did not dry up. It was only that sea weed covered it. a part of the river is flowing freely while  the other isn't.The sudden coming together of the sea weed as thick as 3-4 feet, in a particular area is what seems to be inexplicable.Note that there is water under the sea weed.

2.     2.   The gods are not angry- If you have lived in the village before, you would know that during rainy season, fishermen cut off weed that grows on the river banks. And weed covers portions of the river. I doubt very much that any god especially the beautiful ‘Yemoja’ is angry.

3.      3.  It is not (yet) a tourist attraction centre-  What pains me is that this place hasn’t been sealed off. People should not be allowed to walk across this place. The government should have brought scientists/ environmentalists who would look for the cause of this and a probable solution to it in case it happens elsewhere. Or they could look for a way to maintain it as a tourist attraction and generate revenue from it. What I fear is that this should not end up as a disaster. Imagine the sea weed weakening and opening up at once. You can even see some weed floating around the flowing part of the river. I really pray this ends well.