The Ejagham people in Nigeria are part of the larger Ejagham community which extends to the Southwest Province of Cameroon.
Global population of Ejagham people are 227,100 in 3 countries. The Ejagham of Cameroon are numbering 98,000. (Peoplegroups.org, 2025)
Now split by an international border, the Ejagham in Nigeria are sometimes referred to as Western Ejagham (WE) and found across several Local Government Areas in the South-Eastern extremity of Nigeria, they form the larger part of the Ejagham community. Irrespective of the international border between them, Ejagham people still consider themselves as one indivisible community.
This sense of cohesion can be seen in their culture and tradition across the border which bears much similarity. Testament to the sense of unity amongst them, a constituent community of the Ofutop group is known as Ekpokpa, a word which translates as “a united people”. This community holds that the word Ekpokpa is a descriptive and alternate of the word, Ejagham.
In Nigeria, Ejagham community is found in the South-East extremity bordering Cameroon. Their communities here are located in Cross River State. Their highest concentration is in Akamkpa, Etung, and Ikom Local Government Areas with a population also at Ogoja local Government Area.
The name Ejagham comes from Ezza agham, that is ‘ezza is more able [than me]’ which is a reference to, and reverence for ezza, a war god popular revered and amongst the Ejagham. Another view, but one which is a bit of overstretch for meaning is that the word Ejagham is an amalgam of three words – ekup, ejag, and haam. These words roughly translate to a parcel that has been split and that is going (that is, moving) infinitely. Other such notions exist about the etymology and interpretation of the word Ejagham and the peoples’ origin. However, a common theme they point to the view that the word Ejagham is a reference to Lake Ejagham (or Ijagham, as seen in older records).
The origin of Ejagham in Nigeria vary, relying mostly on oral traditions which having been passed down from generations. Although some traditions of origins like those of the Ofutop and Bakor groups may plausibly point to autochthony, they also to varying degrees, show a connection with Lake Ejagham in Manyu Division in Cameroon. This indicates the lake’s centrality in the early development of Ejagham people. Thus, they are said to have originated from this area from where some groups migrated to what became Nigeria. These migrations were generally due in part to the search for salt mines and vacant lands, the contentions for which resulted to wars and further splintering and migration of groups. One of such splinter groups was led by the king Akam Nku, who established a community that further splintered into groups that are now Bakor, Ofutop among others. The Bakor group has been known to memorialize such kings through stone carvings which can be found in their villages today.
The Ejagham head crests are popular in their culture. These are skin-layered masks worn during events such as festivals and funerals. This invention is widely cited in Ejagham historical literature and are praised for their intricate nature. Due to colonialism, some of these masks are found in museums around the world especially those of United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
As an important part of their historical and cultural development, the Ejagham in Nigeria constantly aim for a peaceful social environment. This can be seen in the social activities that have been passed down from the ancient times.
Festivals like the new yam festival are popular amongst them. The new yam festival features rituals conducted to honour their deities and ancestors for the harvests. It has been said that even though the festival is called ‘new yam’, it is a celebration of the generality of harvests and any fortunes or successes people may have had in the year.
Therefore, for the Ejagham communit, yam is both iconic and indicative of success thus, men are distinguished by their yam title known as nti’maetahn. Individuals with this title, and families whose member(s) hold the title form the upper class of the Ejagham society.
Ejagham society is organised in age grades which serve various functions. Specific age grades may be assigned to tasks or financial levies which contribute to the development and overall welfare of the community. These tasks may include anything from clearing overgrown bushes by roadsides to cleaning of drainages. Also, there are several gender-specific societies like Otaba which is male-only and ekpa, a female-only society among others. Elders are held at high esteem and in their different capacities they contribute to administrative policy of the community. All this have their place and relevance in the overall sociological developments that distinguish Ejagham in the history, anthropology, ethnology, and cosmology of the peoples of Africa.
Marriage is conducted through a practice called Nkim. It doubles as marking the coming of age and a marriage ceremony for the maiden who at this point earns the title mmuoninkim.
During nkim the lady stays indoors for an extended period and is cared for by her family. Groups of maidens would usually have their nkim at the same time hence, it involves careful planning by the organising families to ensure it is a group event. This adds to the excitement. When nkim begins, on set days, the maidens come out to dance in the community playground (effa) and be celebrated. These initial outings serve as warmups to oduu’nkim – the grand finale when they are expected to put up their best performance. Immediately after their performance in the playground, the abuonokim (plural for mmuoninkim) are expected to join their husbands in matrimony. This is signified by her husband with his friends and/or age grade in much jubilation coming to lift her up from the playground to her new home.
On the day of the grand finale, abuonokim are adorned with beautiful traditional ornaments and makeup before their outing. Thus, much display of financial capacity on the part of the family and creativity on the part of the craftsmen may be involved. Some of the craftsmanship involved like the design of agurr (anklets) are closely guarded secrets held within families. Important nkim items are preserved by families through generations for the use by other maidens down the family line. Until the enactment of laws in Nigeria against female genital mutilation, this was a major feature in Nkim as it was traditionally considered a circumcision. This was another reason for the extended period of seclusion to allow the individual to heal.
Subtle competitions are involved during Nkim as the spectators often make comparison over which of the abuonokim is better adorned, which was more fattened or looked healthier, which was a better dancer, and which family and/or husband-to-be family could afford to keep their mmuoninkim in seclusion for longer. This adds up to the overall build up to the oduu’nkim – the final outing ceremony – and for some Ejagham groups like the Ofutop, nkim is so serious that for the rest of the woman’s life, her mates and any elder in the community may choose to call her mmouninkim as a mark of respect.
Ejagham people in Nigeria speak the Ejagham language with various subdialects. However, English remains the official language. Pidgin English is also very popular in informal settings. There have been efforts with varying degrees of success to fully revive nsibi as a regular autography and means of communication.
The Ejgham in Nigeria belief in a sky god and the earth god. The sky god, whom they consider the Almighty God is called osowo osusó, a name which sometimes vary with the given Ejagham dialect. Osowo osusó could for some people be only a title since different communities and individuals may have different deities which they consider the Almighty God. This supreme god is approached through intermediaries like ezza (the war god) mforgha, mfam, among others.
Collectively, these intermediaries may in their own right constitute a lesser godhead called osowo atuor (also with dialectical variations). In their capacity as intermediaries between the people and the Almighty God, each deity in this godhead is believed to play specific roles. These include among others granting victory in war, protection from evil forces, and fertility of the land and of the womb. Ancestors play a major role in the religious system of the Ejagham.
They constitute another level of intermediaries and in that sense, they are the lesser intermediaries. This is because even though ancestors have become spirits, they were human and logically, are not expected to operate at the same level as the deities. This indicates a strong believe in the life after death in Ejagham culture.
That belief is demonstrated by tales of ghost sightings and the practice of consulting the dead through mediums. It is also common to hear the lamenting cry in the event of someone’s death in which the bereaved calls on the ancestors to send the dead person back to the world.
The Qua people were and still are very good traditional musicians and dancers and they communicate through music and dances among themselves. This made some Abo Ekan (Age grades) specialised in traditional song and dances. These traditional dances vary in functions, costumes and participation. They may function to entertain, advertise, purify, correct social ills and deter moral decadence.
Below is a compendium of some Ejagham Cultural Expressions which was practiced in Calabar by the Quas before imitation by their neighbours. Some traditional dances are now extinct but till date, some are still being practiced by both the Ejagham Qua in Calabar and environs.
Akparankapa is an all-male dance staged for entertainment. They are either organized at age grade levels or at the instance of the community for general entertainment.
Angbo, or Angot Akata, a minor branch of the Mgbe cult, is an Ejagham night minstrel. It is usually staged in front of the Mgbe hall on the last days – one hand for entertainment and on the other, to highlight the ills and vices in the community.
In the performance, Akun Obo, (Angbo’s interpreter), who is usually positioned outside the Mgbe shrine, interprets all of what is said by Angbo to the seated audience in the towns square, in a shriek voice. Apart from its entertainment aspect, Akata shows the influence of the Qua culture and language on its neighbours in Calabar.
Ase Mmi (moonlight plays) are plays like Ayo and Ewe, involving both sexes played under the moonlight as in the then popular National TV programme, “Tales By Moonlight.” This may have gone extinct due to Western civilization brought about by the advent of electricity, computer and the internet.
Amid singing and drumming, Ayo is a game made up of two teams, (one of females and the other males), standing facing each other distance apart. The play reaches the climax when the females are supposed to dance from their position to the males,’ and touching the male she admires on the forehead, each girl was expected to bring the male to the centre to dance with her.
Besen was organized at age grade levels to determine the grade’s champion. At times, they were also organized as inter clans or inter-tribal contests. At the inter-tribal level, the Ejagham Qua used to have challenges from the Ijaw people, and vice versa, with whom they had long standing trade links. The Ejagham Qua inter-tribal Besen ended in Calabar in the 1920’s when a champion of the visiting team was brought down rather heavily, making him sustain serious injuries from the medium size bells tied to his waist. Till date, the Ijaws never returned for a rematch and the Quas lost interest in the game.
In Eban, as a traditional play, no songs were required. It was usually staged early hours of the morning. The masquerade of the day consisted of numerous baton-like relay pieces of sticks, in separate groups and arranged in front of the town’s square.
By the striking of each single solidarity note of the drum from the masquerader once in a while, the pre-arranged batons would move, un-aided, stand one on top of the other until they make very high columns of those short sticks grow higher than a house. By day break, the site of the performance was cleaned and cleared as sunrise was not to meet the player.
After successful cropping, a community within a clan spends the interval between then and farm weeding period for recreation. The same applies to the period between the harvest and the next farming season.
During this period, games and traditional plays (already mentioned here), are staged for entertainment as seen in new yam festivals of some hinterlands.
‘Ekonbi’ are two Ejagham words, (Ekon na Ebin), which means “sing and dance.” It is an all-female dance which over centuries, was used as the preliminary and warm up dance steps preceding the more rigorous Nkim in the Moninkim ceremonies.
However, it is now used as a recreational dance. The dance is usually done by women to the drumming of men retained for that purpose. Apart from its entertainment aspect, Ekonbi also shows the influence of the Ejagham Qua culture and language on its neighbours in Calabar.
Ekpa is a female cult dance which is staged by them, once in a while, (anytime of the day) as a cleansing agent when a calamity befalls a particular community; or a curse to a male folk who degrades a woman. Men, who get initiated could join the women to play but are usually only retained to drum.
Ekpa also shows the influence of the Qua culture and language on its neighbours in Calabar. This may have been what was used in the 1920 Aba women’s riot.
Though Eta Mbe Mbe is similar to Eban, Eta Mbe Mbe is clothed in a circular form. The mechanism, which rests on a special wooden seat, is concealed from the audience. Unlike Eban, it is also played during the day. The clothed wooden circular mechanism can rise and attain the height of a roof top before gradually reducing to its normal height. It has the ability to even flatten out on the ground and later resuscitate itself. This is another influence of the Qua culture on its neighbours in Calabar.
In those days, Ikadim usually accompanies Nsibidi, and Ukwa, the all men traditional war dances. The function of Ikadim was to act the ritualistic aspect of the initiation after which it will simulate by having intercourse with the Ete Ukwa (totem pole).
In Ikpo, the principal dancers have covered hoops (ekap) around their waists with headgear held in position by draping head ties. The dancer holds on two of the head ties while dancing to keep the headgear in position. However, when the hoop and headgear are absent, it is called Ikpo Ekpagha. Ikpo Ekpagha is exclusively to royalty and is rarely staged. Like Ekonbi, Ikpo is a predominantly female dance which menfolk are retained to drum and it is now played for general entertainment.
Mgbe functions generally as an esoteric club which caters primarily for its members. The Mgbe masquerade, which is most popular amongst all Ejagham Cultural Expressions activities, can be viewed both as a society and a traditional play.
The Ukwa is a ceremonial war dance which had its origin first linked up with Totem pole (Ete Ukwa) that religiously served as a medium to the universal deity that protects the Akpa during war periods. The Ukwa dance was often played by great Quas at the beginning and at the end of any war fare. At the beginning, it involved sacrifice at the spot where the Totem Pole stands.
Ukwa was also played at the end of war fares throughout the Qua cities. It was danced with the act of displaying human skulls which were some of the war booties. The gallant Qua warriors, dressed in a traditional war-like fashion, with the skulls of the killed enemies on their heads or in their hands, would be displaying some traditional military tactics as used by the Qua native army during the battle as dance steps. The whole dance ceremony would finally be rounded off in front of the totem pole where the human heads and other booties would be kept after the necessary rituals. As part of the entertainments, the Ukwa dance is accompanied by masquerades or Esinjom. This masquerade wears an extra-large black gown, to allow free movement. On its head is a human skull and in one hand a sisal plant while in the other, a double-edged knife.
Ukwa is played primarily to initiate young men into manhood and secondarily prepare them for war. Ukwa is played with swords and it is a dance which includes fencing.
Like the Mgbe, Ukwa had been subject of various claims. Nevertheless, Rev. Thompson had informed Baikie of native swords manufactured by the Ejagham Qua in Calabar long before the advent of Europeans.
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