EKPE AS PART OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION IN CUSTOMARY ARBITRATION UNDER THE NIGERIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Abstract

In the forests of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon lies a code that holds the balance of the existence of the people shaping justice, preserving laws and linking the people to their ancestors. That is the customary law that controls their physical and spiritual lives ensuring the harmony that was essential for a balanced life. It was on the foundation of this code that societies like Ekpe arose not as cults of power but as guardians of societal law that ensures a promise to honour the ancestors, uphold justice and preserve codes of living that were passed down the generations. Ekpe governs, teaches, punishes and protects with justice being its central mission. In pre-colonial times, Ekpe functions as both court and council, settling disputes, enforcing laws and mediating conflict following sacred-cum cultural protocols. Post-colonial African societies have had to contend with the hybridity of modernity of the western judicial systems with the traditional institutions regulating social practices and settlement of disputes that is today called customary arbitration. This work is based on personal knowledge and analysis of some published works, statutory and case-law authorities on the subject as well as a comparative analysis on what is obtainable in Cameroon. We believe that by the evaluation of our research, framework and finding, an acknowledgement that customary law is a complete normative system capable of determining the validity of its dispute resolution mechanism which may sometime resort to oath taking would be made.