The Beautiful Ugly Masquerade

This book is an endeavour to help readers, especially non-Africans, catch a glimpse of the magnificent cultural asset of the Ekpo masquerade cult of Annangland in Southern Nigeria. During the pre-colonial and the pre-Christian era before the eighteenth century, Ekpo played the role of an extraordinary governing arm of government. When this role was taken over by colonial and post-colonial security agents, the Ekpo institution found itself gradually losing out to modernity and turning into a semi-criminal, lawless bandit group disturbing the peace and tranquility of the Annang nation. By so doing, it rendered the once upon a time beautiful masquerade ugly and thereby betraying its traditionally enviable role as the custodian of ancestral heritage.