THE HERITAGE EKPO CULTURE IN ANNANG

ANNANG PEOPLE: NIGERIA`S ARTISTIC PEOPLE FAMOUS FOR THEIR TRADITIONAL SPIRITUAL POWERS

The famous annang people

The Annang people are located in the Coastal Southeastern Nigeria and Southwestern Cameroon which was a part of the present Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State. However, during the then Nigerian Regional era, the then Eastern Region of Nigeria allowed Southwestern Cameroon to be partitioned out of Nigeria into Cameroon through the 1961 plebiscite.

In this action the Annang, Efik and Ibibio people were divided into Nigeria and Cameroon.

Oral tradition has it that the Annang and the entire people of akwa Ibom and Cross River States of Nigeria (Akwa Cross people) have occupied their land in the coastal Southeastern Nigeria thousands of years

Religious belief
The traditional religion of the people is based on the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being called Abasi Ibom (Abasi Enyong) whom they believe lives beyond the clouds, and myriads of divinities and spiritual beings (Abasi Isong) that assist Abasi Ibom to deal with human problems of moral, social, economic, political and psychological nature (Udo E.A. 1983/Esen 1988). “Ibom” means the whole limitless universe.

Here accordingly, he is the lord of the whole boundless universe and everything within it. Due to his boundlessness, there is no temple nor shrine for him, since that cannot accommodate him (Enang, 1979:5). Awasi-Ibom is ubiquitous, and, and because of this, no particular temple, place or shrine can accommodate him. He, therefore, needs no temple nor shrine since he can neither be localized nor spatialized.

He transcends space and time continuum. The temple is, therefore, non-existent in the Annang religion. As the Awasi-Ibom is unlimited, so are his powers.However, Abasi Ibom is a withdrawn God, the so-called ‘deus-otiosus’ and hence assistance from other divinities and ancestral beings. Awasi Ibom or Abot is the creator, the creator of the divinities, humans, animals, plants and other existents in the world. Awasi Ibom comes first in the hierarchy of existence.

There is a strong belief in patrilineage ancestors (the living-dead) in life after death and in reincarnation. The dead are believed to continue in some kind of existence in the underworld invisible to the humans. The Ancestors (Mme Ette-Ette) acts as the spiritual custodians of the family