Residents of Ozoro in Isoko North Local Government Area (LGA) have rejected what they describe as misleading claims on social media portraying the Aluedor festival as a “rape festival,” insisting the tradition is an infrequently observed fertility rite.
Speaking to Vanguard by phone, community indigene Comrade Lucky Agelive said the Aluedor festival is a sacred cultural practice carried out intermittently, sometimes once in a decade or more, and confined to the Oramudhu quarter of Ozoro.
According to Agelive, the rite centres on prayers for fertility, with symbolic acts performed by women seeking children.
He stressed that the observance does not involve the wider community and is preceded by repeated public announcements cautioning residents, particularly women, to stay indoors during the ritual period.
“Announcements are made weeks in advance, in English and Isoko, making it clear that people should avoid the area at specific hours,” he said.
Addressing viral videos that showed young women being harassed, Agelive condemned the behaviour but rejected claims of rape.
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He said the incidents involved molestation and inappropriate touching by individuals who he alleged were not members of the indigenous community.
“Ozoro is no longer a small village. There are many outsiders and students here, and some strangers hijacked the situation. That conduct is not our culture,” he said.
A non-indigene resident and former student of Delta State Polytechnic Ozoro, Faith Oghenevoke, corroborated the account, saying she had lived in Ozoro for six years without previously witnessing the festival.
She described Aluedor as a fertility ceremony in which women with children symbolically bless those without, and said the actions seen in the footage reflected misconduct by some youths rather than any cultural norm.
Oghenevoke added that she was aware of reports that 11 suspects had been apprehended and that the community’s traditional ruler had publicly distanced the town from the incidents.
Community leaders have reiterated that Aluedor remains a long-standing cultural heritage aimed at invoking fertility blessings, while calling for a thorough investigation into the misconduct captured on video.
They urged the public to separate criminal behaviour from tradition and to disregard what they described as inaccurate narratives circulating online.