Oshiri

Oshiri is an ancient Igbo town of Onicha local government area in Ebonyi State, founded by Ezekpechu, who is also called Ugo-Eze. Its name is a memory of the river its founder crossed: Oshimiri, a big river.

Ezekpechu, called Ugo-Eze, came from Ekpelu in the Ikwo country and settled the land that became Oshiri. On the way he crossed the Ebonyi with his half-brother Onyikwa Igbo-Eze, and the crossing stayed with him — he named the place after the water, Oshimiri, and the name became Oshiri.

The town divides in two: Ebia and Uvu. Sixteen villages sit inside those halves, among them Umuorie, Umuimam, Agbabi and Amaokpara, and the two halves answer to each other in the way that close neighbours do.

Oshiri is bounded by Ezza and Agba-Ebo to the north and east, and by Onicha and Ugwulangwu to the west and south. The Ebonyi runs along one side of it, which is why fishing and mat-making grew up beside the farming — along with palm wine, and yam in the barns.

The year ends with the Aji festival in November: the traditional new year, kept for the ancestors, and the point from which the town counts the next one.