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The ‘leopard’ killings of southern Annang, Nigeria, 1943–48

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Geoffrey I. Nwaka
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Extract

This article examines the extraordinary outbreak of violent deaths which occurred among the Annang and Ibibio of eastern Nigeria in the mid-1940s and was described by the colonial police as ‘probably without parallel in the history of violent crime of any country in the world’. Between 1943 and 1948, but especially after 1945, one mutilated body after another was found in quick succession in a restricted border area shared by 130 villages in the Abak and Opobo districts of the Old Calabar Province. Over 200 such deaths were recorded in a short space of time. Initially medical officers who examined the bodies of the victims seemed to agree with the local people that the deaths were caused by genuine leopards, which were a constant menace to life in the area. The local police were preoccupied with other matters and showed little interest in deaths attributed to wild animals. But vague rumours were current, especially in missionary circles, that a ‘leopard cult’ of professional assassins might be engaged in murderous activities in the area, covering the tracks of their crime by simulating the clawmarks and ravages of wild beasts. Preliminary inquiries by local officials in 1945 appeared to confirm the suspicions and, in spite of strong doubts and protests from various quarters, a large force of police was let loose on the ‘infected’ area to suppress the murder gang and any other local organisation associated with the killings. At least 102 suspects were convicted for man-leopard murders, seventy-seven of whom were actually hanged in one of the most bizarre anti-crime campaigns of the colonial period.

Résumé

Le massacre des ‘Leopards’ des Annang du sud, Nigeria, 1943–48

Cet article examine l'apparition soudaine de morts violentes qui eurent lieu parmi les Annang et les Ibibios dans le sud-est du Nigéria. Entre 1943 et 1945, plus de 200 corps mutilés furent découverts dans une zone comprenant 130 villages. A l'origine, on attribua ces morts aux déprédations des léopards; plus tard, on admit que ces faits étaient causés en grande partie par la malveillance humaine.

Après avoir étudié les caractéristiques sociales et politiques de ce qui était, en comparaison avec d'autres régions du sud du Nigéria, une région arriérée et peu administrée, l'auteur examine les circonstances des massacres: le plus souvent au crépuscule sur des sentiers de brousse menant aux fermes. En 1945, on commença à croire qu'un culte meurtrier (Ekpe Owo ou ‘hommes-léopards’) était impliqué dans ces massacres, dont certains étaient le fait de griefs personnels et d'autres pour obtenir des médicaments pour la Société Idiong.

En 1946, la région fut fortement cernée de patrouilles de police, à la grande gêne des habitants locaux. Malgrè quelques irrégularités judiciaires, on obtint de nombreux aveux et les personnes condammées furent pendues. Cependant, les massacres se prolongèrent jusqu'en 1947. L'opinion de la population locale éduquée, exprimée dans l'Ibibio Union, était fortement divisée, à la fois en ce qui concernait les massacres et la réaction coloniale. Vers la fin de 1947, une politique moins oppressive fut menée et une vaste opération de chasse au léopard fut mise sur pied. Les massacres s'chevèrent enfin au début de 1948.

Bien qu'il soit impossible de se prononcer clairement, on peut conclure que les massacres étaient de trois types: le fait de vrais léopards, d'exécutions coutumières des Ekpe Owo et de meurtres privés déguisés en massacres commis par des léopards.

Type
Crime and colonialism in Africa
Information
Africa , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , October 1986 , pp. 417 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1986

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References

Notes

1 Fountain, D. S. (Deputy Police Commissioner), ‘A Report on the Leopard Society Murders’, July 1951; Mr Fountain was in charge of the leopard campaign from July 1946 to May 1948. See also Kay to Resident, 17 January 1946, file no. T.0.1, Abakdist, National Archives Enugu (hereafter NAE).Google Scholar

2 See Gapper, John, ‘One man's fight for justice in the bush’, Daily Mail (London), 2 January 1948. I am grateful to Mr J. A. G. McCall for sending me a copy of this report.Google Scholar

3 ‘Concerning crimes alleged committed by police during leopard murder investigations’, question no. 364 of March 1949 by Dr Azikiwe, Legislative Council Debates, EP 22195/54, CSE, NAE.

4 See ‘Leopard Society - Abak-Opobo’, minute of H. F. P. Wetheral to Secretary Eastern Province, 9 December 1948, CP 3451, vol. IV,Google Scholar Calprof, NAE; S. B. Okon of the University of Calabar has worked on the leopard topic but has yet to publish his findings, which should throw more light on the subject.

5 See ‘Judgment in the leopard cases’, McCall to Resident, ‘The “Man-Leopard” Problem, Calabar Prov.’, 22 December 1947, par. 13, OP287/E, Opdist, NAE.Google Scholar

6 Jeffreys, M. D. W., ‘Diploma Thesis on the Ibibio’, unpublished mss., 1934, pp. 11 -14, EC7266 CSE, NAE.Google Scholar

7 Neillands, D. C., ‘Notes on the Leopard Society’, 13 May 1946, file no. T.O.2, Abakdist, NAE.Google Scholar

8 R. McC. Crockett, ‘Memorandum on Murders in the Opobo and Abak Divisions’, n.d. (probably late 1946), file no. A926/E, Abakdist 1/2/90.

9 ‘Report of the Tour of the Ibibio Delegates in the Man-Leopard Areas of Abak-Opobo and the Uyo Division of the Calabar Province, 26th to 31st July 1947’, OP287/C, Opdist, NAE.

10 See ‘Missionary Churches, Calabar Prov.: Checking of Rivalry among Them’, CP/595, Calprof, NAE; cf. Udo, E. A., ‘The missionary scramble for spheres of influence in eastern Nigeria 1900–1952’, Ikenga, 1 (2), 1972, 22–36.Google Scholar

11 ‘Educational Facilities in the Leopard Area of Calabar Province’, 1946, DDE9827A, Mined, NAE; cf. ‘Report on the Educational Survey of the Annang/Ibibio Leopard Area’, 15 March 1945–15 June 1946, CP 3451, Calprof, NAE, especially minute of S. Milburn, Deputy Director of Education, 16 October 1946.Google Scholar

12 See note 9 above.

13 Hodge, J. E. (Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police, Special Duty, Abak-Opobo), ‘General Report on the Activities of the Police on Special Duty in the Abak and Opobo Divisions, December 1945 to May 1946, at Opobo’, 17 May 1946, file no. A926C, Abakdist, NAE.Google Scholar

14 Cited in ‘Police Report on Leopard Society’, file no. A926C, Abakdist.

15 Cited in Kay to Resident, 5 December 1945, file no. T.O.2, Abakdist; cf. J. S. Smith, ‘Annual Report, Calabar Province, 1945’, CS026/2–11929, vol. XVIII, Ibadan Archives.

16 Ibid.: see also J. G. C. Allen's reports on the leopard menace in Opobo area in file no. T.O.2, Abakdist, and in OP287/IV and OP287/A/II, Opdist.

17 Kay, ‘Comments on Notes of Mr D. C. Neillands on the Leopardmen’, file no. T.O.2, Abakdist; cf. Kay to Resident, Calabar, 13 March 1946, which gives the details of the quadruple murder and the Efe Ekenyong members detained; see also ‘Leopard Society, Peace Preservation Ordinance’ in file no. T.O.I, Abakdist.

18 D. S. Fountain, ‘A Report on the Leopard Society Murders’, 1951, par. 9.

19 Allen to Superintendent of Police, Calabar, case no. 2, in ‘Leopard Murders, Opobo Division’, 24 December 1945.

20 Ibid., case no. 14.

21 Chief Commissioners' Inspection Notes, Calabar Province, entry for 7 February 1942, CP 3451, Calprof, NAE.

22 His Honour the Chief Commissioner's Inspection Notes, Calabar Province, 9 April 1946–13 May 1946, CP 3451, Calprof, NAE.

23 See note 7 above.

24 J. E. Hodge, ‘Leopard Murder Investigations, Handing Over Notes, 11 July 1946, CP 3451, Calprof, NAE.

25 Crockett, R. McC., ‘Memorandum on Murders in the Opobo and Abak Divisions’, 1946, file no. A926/E, Abakdist.Google Scholar

26 Hodge, J. E., ‘General Police Report, 27 May 1946, file no. 926/C, Abakdist.Google Scholar

27 Kay to Resident, 17 January 1946, file no. T.O.I, Abakdist.

28 Government of Nigeria, Extraordinary Gazette, no. 12 of 1946, vol. 33, 6 February 1946.

29 Cheetham, J. N., ‘The Revival of Secret Societies’, 1915, file no. B 1680/15 CSE, NAE.Google Scholar

30 Kay to Resident, 13 December 1946, file no. T.O.I, Abakdist.

31 See Harrison, C. M. H., Acting Secretary, Eastern Provinces, to Chief Registrar, Lagos, 13 June 1947, ‘Leopard Society, Trial by Judges and Magistrates’, file no. 926/A, Abakdist.Google Scholar

32 For more information on secret societies in the Annang-Ibibio areas, see Nwaka, Geoffrey I., ‘Secret societies and colonial change: a Nigerian example’, Cahiers d'études africaines, 8, 1978, 187–209CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also A. L. Leonard, The Lower Niger and Its Tribes, London, 1968; Amaury Talbot, The Peoples of Southern Nigeria, vol. II, London, 1926, pp. 780 ff.; and M. D. W. Jeffreys, ‘Diploma Thesis on the Ibibio’, unpublished mss, 1934, pp. 11–14.

33 The Idiong Society, Abak Division, Petition to Resident, Calabar, 15 April 1941, file no. EP18816/CSE; cf. ‘Idiong Society’, 1941, CP 2061/5, Calprof; cf. report of Ibibio Union Deputation cited in note 9 above.

34 Gray, P. P., ‘The Leopard Society of Southern Annang’, 26 May 1946, file no. 926/E, Abakdist.Google Scholar

35 ‘Wild Animals’, file no. CP 4621, Calprof, NAE.

36 Report by Williams, M. T., Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police, Leopard Area Detachment, Ediere Atai, Abak, 26 December 1947, file no. A926/C, Abakdist.Google Scholar

37 See Nigerian Eastern Guardian, 23 February 1946.

38 Gray, P. P. to Resident, 22 February 1947, file no. A926/E2, Abakdist. By the 1940s, 100 manillas converted to £1 5s or 3d each. Dowry payments in the leopard area in the 1940s ranged from 800 to 1200 manillas.Google Scholar

39 Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ikot Okoro, ‘Leopard Murders, Review of Situation and Recommendations’, 21 September 1946; cf. ‘Government School, Ikot Ibritam’, file no. CP 3451/5, Calprof.

40 Kay to Resident, 28 June 1946, file no. T.O.2, Abakdist.

41 Reuters News Agency, ‘Reported Mass Murder Activities of Secret Society in Nigeria’, 19 May 1946, enclosure in file no. CP 3451, Calprof.

42 ‘Confidential memo of T. V. W. Finley, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lagos, 22 June 1946, enclosed in Kay to Resident, file no. T.O.I, Abakdist, 1/3/1.

43 ‘Leopard Society, Execution and Other Matters’, file no. 926B, Abakdist; cf. ‘Executions of Murderers, 1947’ in file no. CP 3451/3, Calprof.

44 ‘Enactment of the Curfew Ordinance in Leopard Area’, file no. A926/D, Abakdist; curfew was imposed on 16 December 1946 and 9 January 1947.

45 D. S. Fountain to Assistant Commissioner of Police, 22 February 1947, ‘The Leopard Murders and the Idiong Society’; cf. D. S. Fountain's report cited in note 1 above.

46 ‘Resolution Asking Government to send an Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Report fully on the Leopard Menace that took place in certain Areas of Ibibioland in the year 1946 and 1947’, passed 7 August 1948’; cf. Nwaka, Geoffrey I., ‘Ibibio Union and colonial change’, Nigeria Magazine, 146, 1983, 85–94.Google Scholar

47 See report of the Ibibio Deputation cited in note 9 above; cf. ‘The Spirit Movement, Calabar Province’, 1927, file no. CP 247, vol. II, Calprof.

48 See Legislative Council question and answers, 1945–55, in file no. CP 1703, vol. I, Calprof; cf. Legislative Council Question no. 295 of March 1949; no. 363; no. 37 of March 1949 by Onyeama, C. D.; cf. debate in the Eastern House of Assembly, Saturday, 29 December 1947.Google Scholar

49 Diary of the Ibibio Union Delegation, entries for 29 May 1947, 2 June 1947, 4 June 1947, in file no. CP 345, vol. Ill, Calprof. See also note 9 above for the controversial report written by the Secretary General of the Union; cf. Elizabeth Usoro to Resident, Calabar, 6 October 1946.

50 Report by Williams, M. T., Senor Assistant Superintendent of Police, 26 December 1947, cited in note 36 above.Google Scholar

51 See Ibibio Union report cited in note 9 above; cf. J. Udo Affia and eleven others to District Officer Abak-Opobo, 18 February 1947, in file no. A926/E2, Abakdist, ‘Leopard Society, Ibibio Union Tour’; other favoured texts were Ezekiel 13, 15, Galatians 5, 19, Matthew 28, 5.

52 District Officer Opobo to Resident Calabar, 16 August 1948, in file no. OP 287, Opdist; ‘Ibibio Union Body's General Secretary accused of breaching trust by whole state’, Eastern Guardian; cf. Fountain, D. S., report of 1951 cited in note 1 above.Google Scholar

53 See McCall's important memo of 22 December 1947, ‘The Man-Leopard Problem, Calabar Province’; in file no. OP 287/E, Opdist. My recent correspondence with Mr McCall has drawn my attention to additional and extremely useful information on the subject

54 Fountain's report of 1951 cited in note 1 above.

55 Ibid.

56 Daily Mail (London), 2 July 1984.

57 Officer Administering the Government of Nigeria to CO, 30 December 1947, and telegram no. 189 of 8 February 1948, CO 583, 294/30670. I am grateful to Mr McCall for this document.

58 Fountain, ‘The Leopard Murders: Progress Report’, 26 December 1947; cf. Fountain's report of 1951 cited in note 1 above.

59 See note 8 above for Crockett's memo.

60 See Fountain's reports of 22 September 1947, 26 December 1947 and 1 February 1948 in file no. A9266, Abakdist; cf. Mayne, C. J., ‘Annual Report for Calabar’, 1947.Google Scholar