Looks a lot like aphids. They're controllable.

Given that it's already yanked out this advice won't do you much good...nonetheless...

If the okra is tall/healthy enough and the infestation is localized you can just pick off the infested leaf/petiole at the trunk. Okra, especially in hot climates, is extremely vigorous.

You can also use a mild insect soap spray very effectively (either store bought or homemade) if applied early in the morning or in the early evening. A few days of this usually kills off everything to minor/insignificant numbers.

Those ants are probably bringing those aphids to the plants to feed. "Farming aphids" as it's called. The ants love the sweet waste the aphids poop. Fun stuff.

To ant control...

Personally, I use a mixture of a near equal amount of Borax detergent mixed with powdered sugar and a small amount of water. This makes a paste which i put on small cardboard cards and lay out in the garden on a non-rainy day. This attracts the ants, they take the "bait", share it with others in the community, and eventually you see a lot less ants around.

Of course if you have backyard animals you might want to take that in consideration even though it'd more likely make an animal puke rather than get "hospital sick" from eating the homemade bait.

My mom had a bunch of them on her flowers, and the ants came and wiped them out a few days later. they ate them!!!

nc-crn,

Thank you for the great advice! I have two more okra seedlings that I will apply the soapy water technique to and I will definitely try your bait concoction.

That's aphids. Young okra, in my experience, is prone to aphids. I just brush them off the leaf, if I see them. As soon as the okra starts growing vigorously (which means it has to be hot), the aphid problem goes away.

Now, mind you, also in my experience, ants also seem to have a thing for okra flowers. But I haven't found that it's necessary to do anything about that.