Nigeria, Oct. 14 -- Ungwar, an Igala community in the Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State, was agog on Saturday as the residents celebrated Ogani, a controversial festival once derided as "pagan" but now fiercely defended by its custodians as an Islamic heritage.

From dawn till dusk, clouds of white powder and heavy drumbeats took over the air as men in tight colourful wrappers, covered from waist to knees and chest to ankles, danced wildly, rhythmically stamping the ground with their feet. Children joined gleefully. Elderly men and women in different costumes and with faces powdered like war generals cheered them on.

Gunshots of local powder echoed into the afternoon air as the crowd grew so charged that a lone masquerade was sum...