The Ogoni Amanikpo secret society: Towards the search for secret knowledge, powers, and esoteric tradition

Abstract

Human quest for esoteric knowledge of the transcendental and mundane worlds, as well as the struggle towards acquiring them through membership in secret societies has become a worldwide phenomenon. The Amanikpo secret society in Nigeria, being one of the most influential cults within the Ogoni socio-religious milieu, reenacts both political and cosmological order in Ogoni communities. However, in recent years, those noble ideas of Amanikpo have not only been misinterpreted by the emerging trends of other secret societies, but threatened by modernization and its agents. Premised on the above, this paper examines the religious-philosophical foundation, and functions of Amanikpo in the Ogoni traditional society. Using the ethnographic method, the study discovers that despite their cryptic activities, Amanikpo had (and possibly still has) a significance beyond mere entertainment, as its relevance in indigenous education, spiritual development and the preservation of Ogoni spiritual and cultural values still holds sway.