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Ritual Warfare and the Colonial Conquest of the Eggon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

David C. Dorward
David C. Dorward*
Affiliation:
La Trobe University
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Extract

A great deal has been written about the colonial conquest of Africa, from the perspectives of both the conquerors and the conquered. Primary resistance has come and gone as an ‘in’ topic in African Studies. Yet to the extent that such literature deals with the colonial conquest, it has been within a structural-functional framework, focusing on social, political, and economic factors. Possible cultural and psychological aspects have been relegated to the occasional vague comment. More often, these latter elements have tended to be assumed, rather than demonstrated, and then generally in the hindsight of nationalist manipulation of oral traditions in the process of decolonization. Only through the elucidation of meaning to participants of events can we transform them from the status of ‘objects of study’ to ‘subjects in action.’

This paper examines the impact of colonial conquest of the Eggon of central Nigeria in terms of a reconstruction of indigenous institutions of warfare, in particular, Eggon concepts of ritual warfare and its functions. What met in the Mada Hills were not merely two disproportionately armed fighting forces, but two different military ideologies (for want of a more apt phrase), representing two quite different perceived, experienced, and constructed realities. The impact of that confrontation was such that it has been transformed into a prototype myth encompassing the colonial experience of all Eggon, not just those directly involved in the Wulko hills campaign.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 11 , 1984 , pp. 83 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1984

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References

Notes

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) Conference at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, in August 1983. It is based on research in Nigeria in 1974 and 1976, funded by the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, England, and in 1982 by the Australian Research Grants Council. I would like to acknowledge the helpful critique of earlier drafts by Bronwen Douglas, Randall Pouwels, Eric Ten Rea, Rhys Isaac, and Michele Stephen.

2. The distinction between ritual and secular warfare which I develop later in the paper has been influenced by Heider's work on the Dani and the film Dead Birds. See Heider, Karl, Grand Valley Dani; Peaceful Warriors (New York, 1979).Google Scholar

3. A.S. Lawrence, Assessment Report, Mada District, Lafia, 14 April 1913, National Archives Kaduna (hereafter cited as NAK), SNP 10/338p/1913. Today the Eggon living near the outlying hills to the east are often said by Eggon to be independent of Anzo, constituting an autonomous sub-group. As proof, they point to slight differences in pronunciation, e.g., most Eggon call maize, agube ebo but Eggon Erro add an r-sound, agube ebro. However, such localized variations in language appear to have been fairly common in the past and Erro practice may merely reflect their relative isolation from the homodialectal influences of missionary education, catechist classes, and Eggon Bible tracts. A key factor in present-day perception was the colonial administrative practice of dealing with the outlying “Eggon Erro” as a separate sub-section. Eggon traditions highlight the bonds between the Eggon Erro and Anzo, vis-a-vis Eholo.

4. P.F. Masterton-Smith, Notes on the Eggon, 15 November 1929, NAK, SNP 15/Acc. No. 175. Masterton-Smith's report was based in large part on information supplied by Ivan Hepburn but no longer extent. Hepburn was an S.U.M. missionary and the first European to learn the Eggon language. He is remembered by Eggon as a fluent and knowledgeable Eggon-speaker.

5. J.F.J. Fitzpatrick, Assessment Report, Mada District, Keffi Div., 13 June 1913, NAK, SNP 572p/1913.

6. What follows is a reconstruction based on numerous field interviews conducted during 1974, 1976, and 1982, many with indigenous religious practitioners knowledgeable in agum (indigenous medicine) and who still practiced ololo curing ceremonies. See also J. Hunter-Shaw, Intelligence Report on the Eggon, 16 January 1935, NAK, JOSPROF 488, vol. II.

7. Interview with Luki Jatau, Egbi Anga et al at Bekyeno Kasa, 22 September 1982; Audu Egga, Akipi Koga, Amu Gbara et al at Aragwadu, 23 September 1982. Drought or erratic rainfall patterns are common in this part of the Nigerian Middle Belt and the Adang Ubben was often characterized in oral accounts and colonial reports simply as a “rainmaker.”

8. Rex vs Kwenza of Ume, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 93/1917.

9. Rex vs Abili of Awgwingi, NAK, SNP O/PC 296/1919.

10. Testimony by Kudo, the accused: “In the days of Mohammed Agwe, Emir of Lafia, some of Umbu's family killed some of my family. When I heard my father abused, I remembered this and wished to revenge my family. That is why I shot N'yerbu (brother of 1st witness, Umbu).” Ivonu, father of accused, had intervened in a quarrel between Umbu and N'yerbu over a bowl of food. Rex vs Kudo of Ume, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 196/1919.

11. Rex vs Kutuga of Ume, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 130/1919.

12. Both the victim's matrilineage and patrilineage allegedly must agree before bewitchment. However, witchcraft accusations tend to be against paternal kin, Eggon being patrilineal and virilocal. Moreover, “father's brother” in this context could refer to any of one's father's kinsmen. On the other hand, it was said that it is one's mother's brother who is most apt to sacrifice one by witchcraft unless one is carefully respectful.

Realization of bewitchment often came in the heightened reality of dreams wherein the victim was tormented by snakes and leopards, witches being able to transform themselves into wild animals. Rex vs Saju of Lezin Lafia, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 96/1919; Rex vs Gandu of Umme, NAK, JOSPROF 422/1932.

13. Rex vs Azga of Andehu, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 62/1919; Rex vs Umgwanza of Agwingi, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 144/1919; Rex vs Anzako of Wulko, NAK, SNP 13 O/PC 42/1925.

14. Interviews with Malle Ajegone (Hakim of Ginda), 24 September 1982; Mohammede Demeka (Aren Bekyeno Kasa), 22 September 1982; Audu Egga (Aren Aragwadu), 23 September 1982.

15. J. Hunter-Shaw, Eggon Intelligence Report, 26 January 1935, NAK, JOSPROF 488, vol. II.

16. A.S. Lawrence, Assessment Report, Mada, Lafia, 14 April 1913, NAK, SNP 10 338p/1913.

17. The most commonly remembered cause of conflict was over the control of women. Eggon women enjoyed considerably more freedom in pre-colonial society than they do today, a subject which I intend developing in a forthcoming paper on the impact of colonialism and Christianity. Early reports recount that Eggon men constantly complaining about wives running off with someone else and European missionaries and administrators were disturbed by what they regarded as female promiscuity, abandoning their husband and young children for a better provider. Eggon ashim and clitoridectomy (asheng untsen) were in large measure designed to give men ritual power over women, over whom they could exercise ineffective authority.

18. J. Hunter Shaw, Eggon Intelligence Report, 26 January 1935, NAK, JOSPROF 488, vol. II; District Officer's Report, ‘Wana Affray,’ 18 May 1943, NAK JOSPROF 488, vol. III; Group interview, Aragwadu, 23 September 1982; interview, Mohammadu Dameka, at Bekyenokasa, 22 September 1982; interview, Ambugu Tsuku, at Lambuga Tudu, 17 September 1982.

19. Rex vs Anu et al, SNP 13 O/PC 317/1917.

20. Interview with Agbu Ebuga, Sar. Wowen, 1 November 1982.

21. No such restrictions applied to a wife's kinsmen per se, since a wife was a ‘stranger’ and apt to decamp at any time. The advantage of marrying a woman from within one's territorial unit was the network of pressures and influences which could be brought to bear through other cross-cutting ties with her kinsmen to maintain the marriage. On the other hand, the greater the ‘distance’ between one's mother's brother and father's brother, the less apt they were to cooperate in one's bewitchment. It was a play-off between a greater measure of marital stability and advantages which would accrue to one's sons.

22. C.F. Arden-Clarke Papers (private papers in the possession of Lady Arden-Clarke), letters written home from Nigeria, 1921–1927.

23. Freund, Bill, Capital and Labour in the Nigerian Tin Mines (London, 1981), 35–45.Google ScholarRaeburn, C., The Tinfields of Nassarawa and Ilorin Provinces; Geological Survey of Nigeria, Bulletin No. 5 (London, 1924).Google Scholar

24. James Goldsworthy Poole, Statement, 21 May 1912, NAK, SNP 20/79p/1913. Megalith altars were a common feature of the anva ashim, hence survey beacons could readily have been seen as ritual shrines by the Eggon.

25. Lt Governor, Charles Temple, to Secretary of State for the Colonies, Harcourt, 1 July 1912, NAK, SNP 2726/1912.

26. Poole, Statement, 21 May 1912, NAK, SNP 20/79p/1913.

27. W.D.K. Mair to Resident, Nassarawa Province, 17 October 1913, NAK, SNP 520p/1913.

28. W.D.K. Mair to Resident, Nassarawa, 26 May 1912, NAK, SNP 1812/1912.

29. H.D. Larymore to A.S. Lawrence, 19 May 1912, NAK, SNP 2726/1912.

30. A. Campbell-Irons, Gazetter of Lafia Beri-Beri, 15 November 1911, NAK, SNP 4710/1912.

31. Lt E.C. Feneran, Report on the Mada-Nungu Patrol, 14 January 1911, NAK, SNP 4641/1910.

32. A.S. Lawrence to Resident, Nassarawa, 29 May 1912, NAK, SNP 2812/1912.

33. Resident Nassarawa to Secretary, Northern Provinces, Mada District Famine, 11 July 1913, NAK, SNP 10/339p/1913.

34. Capt. J.O. Hopkinson, Report on the Mada Hills Punitive Patrol, 4th June 1912, NAK, SNP/79p/1913.

35. The raminifcations of the Wulko campaign are also illuminating in terms of British perceived, experienced and constructed realities. Unfortunately for Temple, the campaign was reported by Reuter's agent in Nigeria and got into the British press. Questions were asked in Parliament and the Secretary of State for the Colonies came under pressure from the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society. Governor Lugard, never himself averse to punitive measures, used the incident to discredit Temple, whom he resented as being of better social bredding and saw as a potential rival ‘Nigerian Expert.’ The Secretary of State defended the government's action in Parliament but informed Lugard that, though “…I have previously formed a high opinion of Mr Temple's capacity, I have now felt compelled to omit his name from those I am considering for promotion to higher posts which are vacant or about to become vacant.” (Secretary of State to Governor Lugard, 11 February 1913, NAK, SNP 20/D/1913 confidential.) (See also Secretary of State to Governor Lugard, 25 October 1912, NAK, SNP 20/79p/1913.) Temple subsequently took early retirement, wrote a stinging parody of Lugard's Indirect Rule (Temple, C.L., Native Races and their Rulers [Cape Town, 1918])Google Scholar, and ended his days in sublime eccentricity in the south of Spain. (Brenan, Gerald, South from Granada [London, 1957], 174–278.Google Scholar) Mair, the District Officer in charge, also suffered a black mark against his record, ironically for being too lenient with the Eggon and not enforcing the fine of 6,500 bundles of guinea corn levied on the villages at the conclusion of the campaign. J.C. Sciortino to Secretary to Government, 15 July 1913, NAK, SNP 520p/1913.

36. Versions of this tale were collected during fieldwork. Initially I thought the human outlines might have been neolithic cave paintings and therefore spent some time trying to locate the cave(s). The Mada Hills are Young Granites and, though not classic limestone cave geologically, are often broken by deep fissures and undercut by wind and water erosion to form overhanging clefts, not unlike the rock-painting sites at Birnin Kudu with which I am familiar. I never located the caves; however, their physical ‘reality’ or otherwise is immaterial to their cultural ‘reality’ in the context of Eggon reconstruction of their past.

37. Interview with Agbu Ebuga, Sar. Wowen, 1 November 1982. Women were prohibited from watching ritual warfare as it was believed the sight of blood and killing would cause them to sicken and die.

38. Interview with Ezhim Abundaga at Kagbu, 21 September 1982. This same informant explained how the people of Wowen, who had protected Poole's equipment and were regarded by the British as “friendly,” survived the massacre:

From Wulko, the Europeans came to Wowen. Then there was another cave where Wowen hid. Then a hyena [egbi] lay down outside where the Eggon hid. When the European soldiers came and saw the hyena lying there, they did not kill it but said they had come for war. Then they passed the cave without touching any Wowen. So as to today, the Wowen are called Wowen Egbi and they do not kill any hyena even if they see one. One cannot even wear hyena skin in their area without they would fight that person. They then passed Wowen to Egibi, where they fought the Egibi people. There was also war with Ogye. They fought in Ogye from morning until night…

And so this version continues until all Eggon was brought under British hegemony, thereby extending the Wulko campaign into the conquest of the Eggon Hills and collapsing a series of punitive patrols between 1912 and 1917 into one.

39. D.C. Dorward, “The Impact of Colonialism on a Nigerian Hill-Farming Society: A Case Study of Innovation Among the Eggon” in Central Nigerian Perspectives, ed. Elizabeth Isichei (forthcoming).

40. Nearly every early capital offense was the subject of protracted colonial debate as to the justice of executing someone for an offense not so regarded by local custom, natural justice, and the concept of mens rea, the reasonable man. To the Eggon their own actions were often seen as just. They admitted the act but did not see it as ‘wrong,’ their testimony providing valuable insight on Eggon beliefs and attitudes at the beginning of the colonial era and before the advent of the missionaries.