Oghene

Oghene (also written Ọghẹnẹ and, in the Isoko cognate orthography, Cghene) is the Supreme Being of the Urhobo and the closely related Isoko of the northwestern Niger Delta. The name simultaneously denotes the sky and the creator of the world and all its peoples. Urhobo theologians derive it either from a phrase meaning 'the one who forbids being seen' (the Invisible One) or from one meaning 'the one who mystically shapes things'. Oghene is held to be unapproachable and beyond comprehension, possessing no temples, images or dedicated priesthood; he is reached through a courier-messenger and chiefly through the subordinate Edjo and Erhan divinities, who are described as his sons, daughters and emissaries. The concept is indigenous and predates the arrival of Christianity in Urhoboland.

Children

• Aridon
• Aziza
• Ivwri
• Uhaghwa

Domains

• creation cosmogony
• sky heaven

Powers

• to create the world and all its peoples
• to watch over and govern the affairs of mortals

Epithets

• Oghene ObaJ. A. Ottuh, 'The Concept of Elohim and Theos in an Urhobo Cosmological Context: A Biblical Perspective', International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 3, no. 1 (2015). (secondary)

Relations

• creator of: IvwriThe Edjo and Erhan divinities, Ivwri among them, are acknowledged in Urhobo theology as sons, daughters and messengers of Oghene who act as intermediaries between God and humanity.Michael Y. Nabofa, in Onigu Otite (ed.), The Urhobo People (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1980). (secondary)
• creator of: AridonAridon, as one of the lesser Urhobo divinities, is reckoned among the offspring and emissaries of the Supreme Being Oghene.Michael Y. Nabofa, in Onigu Otite (ed.), The Urhobo People (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1980). (secondary)
• creator of: UhaghwaUhaghwa, the divinity of performance, belongs to the class of Edjo divinities held to be the children and messengers of Oghene.Michael Y. Nabofa, in Onigu Otite (ed.), The Urhobo People (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1980). (secondary)
• creator of: AzizaAziza, the wind-and-forest threshold spirit, is numbered among the intermediary divinities subordinate to and deriving from the creator Oghene.Michael Y. Nabofa, in Onigu Otite (ed.), The Urhobo People (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1980). (secondary)

Sources

• Oghene is the Supreme Being and creator god of the Urhobo, head of the pantheon and source of the Edjo and Erhan divinities.: Michael Y. Nabofa, in Onigu Otite (ed.), The Urhobo People (Ibadan: Heinemann, 1980). (secondary); J. A. Ottuh, 'The Urhobo Traditional Theologumenon on Afterlife and Christian Theology of Eschatology: A Comparative Study', The Journal of Pan African Studies 10, no. 3 (2017). (secondary)