I stood shoulder to shoulder with fellow Mgbe members in front of a Qua-Ejagham clan's newly rebuilt lodge. The members of the gathered audience jockeyed for position to see what was about to unfold. Those uninitiated were sure not to encroach on Mgbe's exclusive stage. Everyone watched the clan head of the Nkonib community with anticipation. Ntoe Patrick Oquagbor V stood in the limelight in front of the lodge, facing the community. His fellow Mgbe chiefs flanked him. Oquagbor V addressed those assembled. He then enthusiastically poured a libation to the ancestors of Mgbe for the entire community to witness (Figure 3.1). Following protocol, he capped off the offering to the ancestors by reciting an Mgbe chant. This time, however, in lieu of his firm yet reserved tone, he thundered the chant in a roaring voice—no doubt a tactical strategy aimed at those who opposed Mgbe and the religious act of pouring a libation to the society's ancestors.

The libation offering took place immediately after an elaborate royal procession in honor of the clan head's coronation anniversary. Such a performance reinforced the royal structure of the community and Oquagbor V’s rightful place as the clan's monarch. Pouring libation in front of the Mgbe lodge punctuated the royal performance by reinforcing the exclusive spatial divide between those initiated and those not. Indeed, the day was strategically packed with morning and afternoon rituals, processions, and masquerades—all of which gravitated around dedicating the freshly renovated Mgbe lodge in the aftermath of its recent vandalism. The all-important structure had been set afire months prior to this day. The impetus for the act was fueled by ongoing debates about the place of offering libations. Oquagbor V's public offering and related performances were a well-executed and highly organized spatial rebuttal concerning the place of local culture in urban Calabar on that November morning in 2009.

The narrative that follows contextualizes why anyone would dare to desecrate a lodge representing the most prominent association throughout the entire Cross River region (culturally, historically, and politically speaking). With this case, I seek to contextualize the crucial role that space occupies in the ongoing debate over the relevance of masquerade culture and the male secret societies that perform them.