‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it—George Santayana

By Daniel Ekup-Nse

The aphorism above by the former Harvard professor of philosophy, George Santayana, aspires to our common sense, which is hard to disagree with. To put it into perspective, this cliché does not situate itself exclusively in historical awareness but in applying historical lessons. It goes beyong debate that every society is conditioned by the ultimate use of its collective memory. Even to the micro level of the individual, memory creates the conditioning for decision-making, choices, actions, and inactions. Every community or individual, therefore, represents a continuous dialogue between their past experiences, present realities, and future aspirations. In the words of Nicolas Clairmont:

It may be common sense that all of the good things and all of the bad things about people, and the way that we organize ourselves, are simply going to breed patterns as we continue to make history as a species (sic).

In the Ejagham universe, there is an obvious pattern in what has been termed ‘the search for identity’. This pattern is the periodic push for recognizing the Ejagham nomenclature in official statutes. A colonial District Officer of Calabar, J. V. Dewhurst, documented an early account of this trend. He wrote:

On July 25th, 26th and 28th, I attended a meeting of the Ejagham Improvement Union held at Oban. The Union comprises members of the Ejagham tribe from the Mamfe, Ikom and Calabar Divisions. It was explained that Dr. P. A. Talbot in his “The Peoples of Southern Nigeria” refers to the tribe as Ekoi tribe. Ekoi is the description given to them by the Efiks: their own name for themselves is Ejagham, and by this they wish to be known (cited in Onor 2018: 16).

This move by the Ejagham people appears heroic and is a reference for Ejagham’s resolve to exert their authentic nomenclature to the relevant authorities. The most recent recurrence of this pattern was captured in the April 2023 ‘Report of Stewardship by the Moses Besong Obenofunde’ (sic) in the transition of the leadership of the Eyumojock Traditional Rulers Association. The first highlight of the achievements read:

We got Ejagham recognized in the police records as a tribe in Cameroon. Prior to our intervention, Ejagham children faced the embarrassment of being told that they are Bayangi people because Ejagham was not known as a tribe by the police (sic).

It cannot be overemphasized that this is a laudable achievement that adds to the preceding push to establish the Ejagham identity by formalizing its authentic nomenclature. Nevertheless, as we celebrate, on the one hand, it is essential to pause and ask the most crucial question: why is Ejagham still in search of the same kind of (nomenclature) identity from colonial to post-colonial times? The answer is simple. Ejagham people had never prioritized building a formidable heritage promotion institution. Instead, Ejagham people had been focused on building unions, councils, and associations.

Again, while these unions, councils, and associations play vital roles in grouping Ejagham people, creating local awareness, and competing for Ejagham’s place in the domestic scheme of things, more often than not, these unions and associations quickly outlive their relevance once a clash erupts among its members’ mainstream political postures. At this point, unless the Union or association realigns to a specific political ambition, its existence fades into a distant memory, no matter how recently established. On the other hand, the traditional associations and councils are constructed to function as local administrative instruments by the state governments. Their leaning is often towards the indigenous collaborative governance of Ejagham local communities. One can hardly demand more from these formations as they already serve the purpose for which they were created.

If Ejagham people have settled for exerting a recycling pattern of identity drive, then they should be ready to celebrate the gesture of telling others what their name is in the next 100 years. A name is the starting point of identity and not its influential point. The very act of pointing people towards your name shows how unknown you are. No influential group or individual celebrates the recognition of their name, for they should have already been known. Therefore, amidst many groups across Ejagham, it remains a less influential heritage. To put it differently, Ejagham lacks a compelling identity.

How then can Ejagham become an influential heritage identity? The foundational point is to build an Ejagham heritage promotion institution. Research has shown that nations fail for lack of solid institutions. The Ejagham nation provides more empirical data to prove this submission. This does not imply that Ejagham heritage is historically without what can be described as institutions. Of course, there is Mgbe, the supreme governance institution (male dominant); Ekpa, the apex ritual and power balancing institution (female dominant); and others, such as Ekan (age grades).

Here is the difference: the institutions of Mgbe, Ekpa, Ekan, Etc., were built and firmly cast to run and sustain Ejagham communities, as well as to manage their relations with neighbours. These bodies were not established to promote the Ejagham identity but to embody it. Also, the experiences at the time did not necessitate an institutional structure that would conduct its activities in relation to contemporary global trends and patterns.

Hence, a new institutional framework is needed to publicize Ejagham’s local into becoming global. Such an institution must also serve as an updating force that will pull Ejagham into the world’s evolving patterns without losing its cosmic signature in this mosaic pluriverse. Ultimately, what matters is what this institution will show as Ejagham’s contribution to the world and not just being in it. For a proper context, it is important to stress that what is commonly considered global is but a widely publicized local.

All heritage identities draw significance on their unique contributions to the makeup of our world. In this regard, Ejagham has enormous heritage resources that the world needs to be aware of and appreciate. For instance, the independent invention of Nsibidi. Here is a holistic communications system with ideographs. In Nsibidi, both silence and gesticulations are elements of communication. It has different layers of mastery and utility. In some layers, it served as an indigenous educational machinery for young people, while at its apex, it served as a coded meaning-making communication architecture for the supreme governance institution, Mgbe.

Among other novelties of the Ejagham heritage, the renowned British colonial anthropologist Percy Amaury Talbot wrote in his 1912 book, In the Shadow of the Bush, that the religious practices of the Ejagham people weighed greater sophistication than that of the historically famous Phoenicians. He was astonished to encounter independent inventions, particularly around the Stone civilization, which situates Ejagham as one of the most magnificent civilizations in the world, alongside the Egyptian civilization. Mgbe remains a mystery and arguably worth listing among the wonders of this world. These and more exist to testify to the wealth of this heritage, but how well is this known to the global community?

This inevitably leads to the thesis of this piece that Ejagham needs a heritage promotion institution. The good news is that such an institution has already been established. Ejagham Tradition Centre (EjT) continues demonstrating its capacity to globalize Ejagham and make it an influential heritage through its Triple-D strategy of Documenting, Digitalising, and Disseminating Ejagham traditional practices and cultural expressions. Even a cursory glance at its website at www.ejaghamtradition.org  will show clearly that here is the institution fit for what Ejagham needs today.

The status that Ejagham people yearn for will never be realized by chance. As famously captioned by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, “Sometimes, history needs a push.” In this case, EjT is pushing Ejagham’s history. The optimism it embodies is drawn from the immortality of Ejagham’s continuous search for an identity. This time around, the ultimate identity. This is beyond irredentism and jingoism. This is about the conviction of purpose.

To those who had imagined that Ejagham’s search for identity would continue to reverberate on the same spot of nomenclature gyrations, such individuals need to be reminded of another cliché by the same former Harvard professor of philosophy, George Santayana: “Only the dead have seen the end of war”.

Ejagham keeps marching on!