Combating evil with egbesu the god of warfare

By Gloria Ikibah

The Ijaws, are predominantly indigenous people in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, they moved to the Delta over 7,000 years and have a distinctive language.

The Niger Delta covers an area of about 70,000 square kilometres and is spread across eight of the 36 states in Nigeria. These include, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Abia and Imo, which are endowed with immense natural resources, particularly crude oil.

Egbesu is the god or deity of warfare of the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta region, and egbesu is the spiritual foundation for combating evil. The egbesu force can only be used in defence or to correct an injustice, and only by people who are in harmony with the universe. The symbol of the divine force is the leopard.

The ancient egbesu cult of the Ijaws declined after the successful British occupation of the Ijaw lands in the late 19th century, and for some time most Ijaws only knew of the cult through folklore and traditional war songs. But has now awaken to fight the cause of injustice in the Niger Delta region as regards its resources and the usage in development of the area by the government of Nigeria.

Egbesu as the ancient war deity is believed to have been entrusted to the Ijaw ethnic nation by the Almighty God to defend ourselves in times of oppression and war.

According to source, this brings about the presence of the deity egbesu in all the 64 Ijaw speaking communities and clans from Arogbo-Appoi in Ondo state to the territories and boundaries of the Ijaws in Eastern Ibeno in Akwa-Ibom state and in the core south of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Egbesu is also known by other names in Ijaw language, such as Agadagba-oru, Ako-oru, Dirimo-oru or Dirimo-asain, to name a few; it is the offensive and defensive power of God used to protect righteous people from the forces of evil.

For the Ijaw person, egbesu is the spiritual foundation for combating and overcoming evil, it is used to enforce the divine order in the natural realm, so that all things coming into being can take place in their own space and time without infringing upon other things.

It is also the belief that a study of the function of angels will give us an understanding of why the Ijaw invoke egbesu anytime their society and environment is at risk of annihilation.

It is believed by the Ijaws that for Egbesu to be at work or effective there must be cooperation or rather togetherness among its people, the law of chastity must be obeyed, which mean you must not commit adultery, fornication or defile yourself with a woman and also you must not have blood on your hands, meaning you have not killed an innocent person(s).

The corrective force therefore of the deity of warfare to the layman can only be applied by the righteous or upright beings through wise guidance wage a war that is just. It cannot be called upon by evil doers or be used for dubious purposes because as the angel of warfare it is not called upon to start a war, but to end injustice, conflict and confusion.

It can only be called upon in exceptional situations one of which might be when an individual or community is under attack from other communities with evil or diabolical intentions i.e evil forces and the communities themselves must be innocent and blameless.

For instance if you are somebody who consistently infringes divine law i.e. the laws of natural justice or commits wrong, then you cannot call upon egbesu to help you in times of strife. That is why egesu priests would require all persons who seek its protection to confess their sins sincerely and a vow to uphold righteousness and truth in times of conflict.

Egbesu is said to be the offensive and defensive power of God used to protect the righteous or upright people from the forces of evil. Egbesu is the corrective force of God used to restore order when there has been an infringement within a unified natural system such as an ecosystem, which as we said earlier is ultimately a part of the divine order created by God. Egbesu is the divine enforcer and executioner which can also be interpreted as ‘you reap what you sow’, egbesu furthermore believed to be the divine security agent of God, securing the social order of societies that abide by the laws of nature, securing the minds of individuals who uphold divine law, from negative psychic influences or attacks released by other minds.

Seeking the assistance from the deity for acts of injustice or infringement of one’s fundamental rights means living in harmony with the laws governing the universe, the egbesu priest and the men who will carry out the defensive work will undergo a training programme that will harmonise their being with the offensive and defensive power of God. After the training programme, and in accordance to the sincerity of the individuals undergoing it, egbesu will protect them and help them carry out their task of restoring law and order in the land or making right a wrong.

In an emergency situation an egbesu priest can invoke the corrective forces of God to help a community in a conflict situation where they are clearly innocent and are being victimised. All men or soldiers engaged in physical combat must as a matter of priority confess their sins, while at the same time make a sincere commitment to fight according to divine law. This means that innocent people are not victimised in a warfare situation, even if your own people are.

The Ijaw man who believes in egbesu has it that calling upon the benevolent forces of God in times of conflict, where it is clear that you are not at fault or guilty of infringing the divine order, you must not give in to fear. Any time you give in to fear, you deny God dwelling within and he will not come to your aid in times of crises.

According to our source, you must learn the signs and symbols that correspond to egbesu and use them as energy conduits to channel the energy of egbesu through the initiate in any warfare or conflict situation.

A brief summary of the signs and symbols of egbesu are as follows;

The symbol of the leopard, representing the natural aggressiveness needed to overcome your enemies. The leopard’s teeth are used for ceremonial purposes.

The symbol of Black representing the essential nature of God, formless and invisible, and the death like state that consciousness must experience in order to come face to face with the essential nature of God. Black is also the symbol of the omnipotent or spiritual power of God. All things, all colours come out of and return to the infinite and eternal Blackness that is at the beginning of time.

The symbol of White, representing the clear and clean conscience or mind that must be in harmony with the divine laws and order so that one can receive protection against the forces of evil. If there is a blood stain, representing wrong doing, it will be seen on the white garment. All priests wear white garments.

The symbol of Red representing the fiery fire energy that must be generated in order to be successful in battle and generate a protective energy shield while in action; it also represents danger, which means that egbesu is a danger to evil doers. It also represents blood, as it is believed that blood will be shed so long as it is not an innocent blood or you will be liable.

These symbols are believed to be used by an egbesu priest to generate a warrior type personality in it initiates.

This indeed is the reason why egesu is been called upon or rather invoked by concerned Ijaw people in the protection of the Niger Delta environment which they believe if their home, against those who seek to destroy it through ecological and environmental degradation caused by oil exploration, and against those neighbouring towns who come to invade the region by violating their God given right.