Egbesu: An African Just War Philosophy and Practice

ABSTRACT

This article presents Egbesu as both a philosophy and a practice of war. Currently, Egbesu is known as a spiritual instrument of warfare that vaccinates Ijaw fighters against bullets. Since the 1990s, Ijaw youths from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have been engaged in inter-ethnic as well as oil-related conflict with the federal government. Reporting on data collected from participant observation and interviews with relevant authorities, we present Egbesu as a ‘just war’ philosophy, a set of war ethics delineating the criteria for a just cause of war (jus ad bellum), just conduct during war (jus in bello) and just actions after war (jus post bellum), that also establishes a reward system through the promise of victory for just warriors. The promise of victory seems to be the essence of the conception of Egbesu as a spiritual instrument for victory in warfare, translated into immunity to bullets and other enemy weapons. The Egbesu war philosophy has long been preserved in Ijaw culture through oral tradition. This article draws on interviews with custodians of Ijaw culture and Ijaw foot soldiers (militants), along with extensive participant observations conducted by the first author (Courson).

KEYWORDS:

• Egbesu
• Ijaw
• just war
• Niger Delta conflict
• war ethics

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Centre of African Studies at the University of Cambridge for the invaluable support.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 There is a profound question of language which we would like to acknowledge. At the level of meaning, the significance of traditional terms employed here carries more (and sometimes less) sense in Ijaw language than their English approximation. Their meaning in Ijaw, for example ‘Kulikuliwei’ (translated as priests and foot soldiers), is not capable of being put into another form or style without being corrupted. Although we are proficient in Ijaw language, most of the follow-up interviews were mainly to negotiate meanings within Ijaw as well as translations from Ijaw to English.

2 See Elias Courson's (2016) PhD dissertation ‘Spaces of Insurgency: Petro-Violence and the Geography of Conflict in Nigeria's Niger Delta’.

3 With the exception of Isaac Boro 12-day post-colonial uprising of 1966 (Boro 1982).

4 Bundu waterfront, like most other waterfronts in Port Harcourt, is a densely populated slum settlement inhabited by low-income earners.

5 ‘Ogele’ describes a procession or group of elderly women or youth dancing, drumming and singing on the streets to draw public attention. As a socio-cultural component of the Egbesu myth, Ogele deals with the cleansing of an environment and/or person(s) from bad omens. It can also be seen as a warning call or action in preparation for war/mobilisation of would-be fighters or societal support.

6 See Ibiba Don Pedro's interview with T. K. Ogoriba at http://www.essentialaction.org/shell/mosiendOgoriba, accessed June 2014.

7 Gbaraun Egbesu, Forupa Egbesu, Olodiama Egbesu, Tarakiri Egbesu, Oyakiri Egbesu, Egbema Egbesu, Osuwo Egbesu, Kolokuma Egbesu and Ekeremor Egbesu.