SAVING THE LIVES OF TWINS AND MOTHERS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA BY DA EFFIONG DANIEL AFRICAN HOYLAND

SAVING THE TWINS AND FHEIR MOTHERS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICAN By Da Effiong Daniel History has it that only the whites (Mary sclessor) saved the twins and their mothers from the harmful practices of killing and throwing away of twins and their mothers by the Efik,Ibibio and Annang people of the then south eastern states of Nigeria. This assertion is not the whole truth. This paper attempt to provide other useful historical information to correct the already existing’ historical document’ that was only attributed glory to the whites, a Briton; Mary Sclessor as the only person that stopped the killing of twins in Africa. This research revealed that, before the coming of the white(Mary sclessor) to Africa, the killing of twins and ostracized mothers were normal practices in the Efik,Ibibio and Annang speaking people of the then south eastern states Africa . Some twins and mothers were saved from certain death by some Africans who were not Christians evidence abound in this work, because there was no Christianity then in the cultural area but African traditional religious practices. Some of these people were compassionate for the twins and their mother not minding the wrath of Ikpaisong in the cultural areas where almost everyone looked and twins and their mothers as evil (nkpopo,and ekpo )ghosts According sociological and anthropological finding of the study area among the Efik, Ibibio, Annang and Ngwa people of the then southern states of Nigeria .some part of the questions are: were all the twins killed in the area? About 90% of the people interviewed in the cultural area said that “not all the twins and their mothers were killed”, 95% said, “Some were saved by sympathizers, who smuggled them out to ngwaowo. The Ngwa land /people who at that time, opened their homes as a place of refuge to twins victims who were fortunate to be smuggled out of Annang into Ngwa, by their sympathetic mothers and few citizens of Annang who could not conform to such traditional practice and willing to take the risk of smuggling them out to ngwa land a known place for twins safety by Annang people. At the course of research, it is revealed that ngwa land is known for a work of adopting the rejected people not only twin but a land of refuge for the ,rejected,displaced. It is also revealed the others igbos rejected the ngwa people but now this land is the most blessed land that accommodated almost all the igbos more that any other igbo land research revealed Unfortunately, many twins ended up in the evil forest where they were banished and abandoned to the elements to finish them off. The freedom these rescued twins enjoyed in Ngwa Land came with a high price of adopting foster families, ngwa names, language, villages and permanent home with mixed blood as their new identities, unfortunately as research revealed. In answered to the question, where were the twins taken? 98% said, There were taken to ngwa owo and were saved, and about 99% said, the moment there cross the boundary of Annang to Ngwa they were saved and about 70% said, their relatives helps in taking them out. In the course of the research, we discovered that before the coming of the missionary, some twins were saved both in annang land and in Ngwa land but were not in the documented but oral history confirmed. Two lands are picked for confirmation of the study, ikot nsekong in abiakpo ikot abasi inyang in annang where the deity responsible were destroyed by the Whiteman and ngwa owo where the twins and their mothers were taken to and also the dwelling of the white man that destroyed the twins loathed deity in annang. But there were some Igbo families who were looking for children but did business with the midwives for babies in annang land According to elder Peter Essien Amankpa Umoette (1910-2019) who happened to be the direct descendants of Umoette of the fouth generation of umoette family whose family owned and controlled the twin killer forest called Akai Itike(The forest of Africa) in abaikpo ikot abasi inyang. On 24/12/2007 at the said forest handed over the forest to the lord, DURING THE PROGRAM Ikot Nsekong for Christ, He said, this was where the twins were taken to and the priest supervised their death, this was one of the most dreadful place in this village, where twin were thrown alive, I saw it in my childhood days and my father told me what happened now this place was given to me by my father Mr. Essien Amankpa Umoette Umoidem According to him, ‘in this family one of the daughter called ANWADA UMOETE married to Ibanga udo Udo Abasi INYANG NKON AT Ikot abasi inyang family in this village and she got twins and came home through Mbiam Esa to the compound with those twins by night . Why do you bring ghosts here? Since the family twins and their mothers cannot entered, one of his brother secretly took her and the children to another deadly forest. It so the brother feared then if you mishandled any grandchild, the god of the grandchildren will give you cough, stroke, or paralysis etc. so they too them and hid them at akai abang annang/ owokdeden for the fear that the god of grand children will not hurt them. They were kept there and were secretly feed until they grew and became men. They live from that forest till there comes out and become a village of people called ikot ibanga family or Ukpong ibanga house whose map below More so, the ngwa people of the southern Nigeria of Africa were not left out in the saving of twins in Africa played a mayor role in saving the twins in their land. According to some of the research findings in the cultural area of study (the Efik, Ibibio, Annang and Ngwa people of the then southern states of Nigeria), about 98% said, Some of their twins from this area were smuggled to ngwa owa with a prayer ,”idioknkpo ka ngwaowo” and until now there are there as “abala”and were saved, and about 99% of the people interviewed said, the moment any twins and their mothers cross the boundary of Annang to ngwa they were saved and about 70% said, their relatives helps in taking them out. It was also revealed that they were waiting ngwa women who were looking for children, some will be putting applications with some annang midwives and when it happen they will give one out immediately to take away the shame. conclusively, the research have proven that African were the first to save the lives of the twins and their mothers before the Briton and American but were not properly fit into history. This reseach while recognizing the work of Mary sclessor have proven beyond reasonable doubt that the annang land and the ngwa land became save heaven for the innocent twins that history has not document Da Effiong Daniel is a sociologist /anthropologist he writes from African Holy land AKWA IBOM STATE NIGERIA