Strategic direction, cultural stewardship, and institutional continuity.

In December 1996 Tata Mfonten Mbu became a Sisiku. The second activity of Ekpe DC was the celebration of the life of Sisiku Okang, whose Ekpe title was passed on to his grandson, Alfred Okang, son of Dr. George Okang. The third major activity was the celebration of the life of Tata Ako Ayuk Carlet.

Other activities included the anniversaries of the deaths of Sisiku Okang and Tata Ako Ayuk Carlet; the celebration of the life of HRH Stephen Agbaw, traditional ruler of Okoyong Chiefdom; of Sisiku Tabot of Bachuo-Ntai; of HRH Nelson Enonchong (late), sisiku from Besong-Abang Chiefdom, former Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice in Cameroon, founding member of the Cameroon Bar Association and Chairman and CEO of the Enonchong conglomerate; and of H.E. Sisiku Emmanuel Tabi Egbe (late), former Minister of Telecommunications and Roving Ambassador of the Republic of Cameroon.

We first got in contact with the Efik Ekpe of Nigeria when Tata Eyong Tabe (Joe) was celebrating his Eyum Ngbe at Takoma Park, Maryland, in 2000. The Efik in Nigeria have Nkanda as the basic Ekpe, whereas in Cameroon we have Ekpe as the starting point. This created a need for Ekpe DC to have a full Ayamba Nkanda (Nkanda Chief), and so Sisiku Ojong Orock, after consultation with the other Ekpe members and Sisiku Mfonten Mbu, decided to acquire his own Nkanda Lodge in April 2003.

Important activities of the lodge include the recognition of Ekpe personalities from Cameroon who visit the Washington DC metropolitan area — among them Sisiku Egbe Achuo (Hilman), Supreme Court Justice in the Republic of Cameroon; HRH Sisiku Dr. Achale, traditional ruler of Ewelle Chiefdom and Executive Director of Finance at the National Petroleum Investment Fund; Sisiku Ekortarh (late), former Supreme Court Judge; HRH Sisiku Ndiepso Tabetando, traditional ruler of Bachuo-Ntai Chiefdom and President & CEO of Euro Oil; and HRH Chief Mukete, paramount chief of the Bafaw region in Kumba and Chairman of CAMTEL and Mukete Estates. Ekpe members visiting the area also pay homage to the Ekpe DC Lodge.

Originally our meetings were held monthly, but we now meet bi-weekly due to the high demand for Ekpe exoteric and esoteric skills in the community. With a membership of over fifty initiated members in the metropolitan Washington DC area, our priority is to increase the initiated membership roll by encouraging aspirants, who number over thirty, to go home and be initiated.

Our second priority is to be present or represented wherever there is an Ekpe event anywhere in the world. At short notice we were able to send a delegation to New York City to rediscover our Cuban brothers and sisters on Saturday 5 October 2009, at the launching of their Ekpe CD, which was sold during the Conclave Cultural Gala in Maryland on 17 October 2009. We also prepared to attend the World Ekpe Festival in Calabar, Nigeria.

A research team headed by Sisiku Solomon Egbe Esq., Sisiku Joseph Mbu, Etobetobe Ntui Asam Asam and Tata John Ashukem was charged with tracking down all our Ekpe brothers and sisters displaced from the Cross River area of Nigeria and Cameroon by the slave trade. So far we have made contact with Ekpe members in Cuba, Brazil and Haiti, and we are reactivating our long-standing relationship with the Ekpe groups of Nigeria. We have also developed an Ekpe library of rare ancient and modern books covering the exoteric details of the society, along with manuscripts on its esoteric details, which may be reviewed by initiated members only.

Our long-term goal is to build a model Ekpe lodge in the Washington DC metropolitan area, on a solid foundation of Ekpe principles that can be replicated around the world.

The top brass of Ekpe DC has continued to grow. Active and allied Sisikus include Sisiku Elias Akwo (April 2006), Sisiku Peter Ebot (December 2007), Sisiku Solomon Egbe Esq. (March 2008), Sisiku Christmas Ebini (April 2008), Sisiku Jean Jacques Enow (April 2009), Sisiku Arrey Barchel, Sisiku Dr. David Tambe, Sisiku Dr. James Tabe and Sisiku Maurice Enow (allied members in Dallas), Sisiku Dr. George Besong (allied member in Florida) and Sisiku Philip Tabi (allied member in Atlanta).

Ekpe 101: because Ekpe is the highest cultural form among the Efik, Ekoi, Ejagham, Boki and Banyang peoples, it is sometimes perceived as religious; it embodies the traditional philosophy of our people along with their colourful celebratory life. Ekpe is a mysterious spirit said to live in the jungle, symbolised by the leopard, and it presides at the ceremonies of the Efik, Banyang, Ejagham and Oroko peoples of Cameroon and Nigeria.

Believed to have originated in the Cross River area of the Niger Basin of West Africa, Ekpe spread through lands now occupied by the Oroko, Ejagham, Banyang and Boki in Cameroon, the Efik, Ibibio, Arochukwu and Ohafia in Nigeria, and the Abakuá of Cuba as well as Haitians and Brazilians of Cameroonian ancestry. It is also known as Egbo, as Okonko in Umuahia, and as Ngbe or Nyamkpe in Kenyang, Cameroon.

Members of the society are said to act as messengers of the ancestors, who alone are believed to be in link with the deity called Ntoh-Obassi, the Almighty God. Social importance attaches to the highest ranks of Ekpe-men — Chief of Ekpe, Nfor Ngbe or Sesekou — and very large sums have long been paid to attain these upper levels. Initiates are required to sponsor feasts for the town, providing food and drink to the poor and so redistributing wealth.

The economics of Ekpe rests on paying tribute to tribal ancestors, and the society combines a kind of freemasonry with political and law-enforcing aims. Any member wronged in an Ekpe district has only to address an Ekpe-man, beat the Ekpe drum in the Ekpe-house, or blow the Ekpe horn before the hut of the wrongdoer, and the whole machinery of the society is put in force to see justice done. Members of Ekpe also invented Nsibidi, the ideographic script indigenous to West Africa.

Membership: only males may join, boys being initiated around the age of puberty. Members are bound by an oath of secrecy and entrance fees are payable. Ekpe-men are ranked in seven or nine grades, each requiring fresh initiation ceremonies, fees and oaths.

A special tribute: the lodge honours Sesekou Eddie Tameng-Afere Besong, the first Cameroonian Sisiku to die in the United States.

Sources: In the Shadow of the Bush; Leopards and Leaders; Ekpe Efik; Imagined Power Contested; and various manuscripts held by the lodge. To learn more about the Ekpe society, contact Sesekou Ojong Orock at 301-422-6566.

Since its establishment, the Ohio Lodge has continued to grow and currently boasts 32 members and Ngbe aspirants, united by a common commitment to brotherhood, cultural preservation, and the promotion of our ancestral traditions.

The Ohio Lodge has grown into a self-sustaining cultural lodge, proudly maintaining important traditional artifacts and regalia, including drums, gongs, Evongu regalia, Emanyankpe regalia, Newen, Nkanda regalia, Nchokanda regalia, Obasinjom regalia and Moninkim. These cultural treasures enable the Lodge to preserve and showcase the richness and diversity of our heritage here in Ohio.

In addition to his leadership within Ngbe Ohio Lodge, Sessekou Benson Agbor Tabi serves as the Chief of Obasinjom Ohio, further strengthening the Lodge's commitment to preserving and promoting the interconnected cultural institutions and traditions of our people.

Our mission is clear: to preserve and promote our culture and traditions, strengthen unity and brotherhood, and inspire the younger generation to embrace their heritage and aspire to join the Ekpe Fraternity.

From its humble beginning in 2024, Ngbe Ohio Lodge continues to grow as a proud home of culture, tradition, brotherhood, and continuity — ensuring that the heritage entrusted to us by our ancestors remains alive for generations to come.