OboloMAN:


We are not against the Development Of the Nsibidi, the only issue is how it is been projected as an Igbo ideology.
We applaud the guy doing this project, if he really wants to develop the Nsibidi he should come south and learn from the custodians of the Original undiluted Nsibidi which are currently the Ekpe Societies of the Efiks and Ofiokpo Societies of the Obolos(Andonis).

By so doing we will welcome his project the same way we welcomed english. It is only Myopic to brand the Nsibidi an Igbo Initiative.

story !!
the owners of nsibidi are the EJAAGHAM.
miss meiya,which ethnic nation are you from?

MissMeiya:


The only person who ever made that claim is the poster who was just exposed as a fraud and a troublemaker. No one, in this ENTIRE THREAD has said that. ONCE. So STOP DERAILING the DAMN THREAD.

Re-read the damn OP. Good grief.

Edit: Don't even say we. It's just you and the other guy. Everyone else can read.

I'm already exasperated. Phew

notobs:


Nonsense all because i punch holes in your fraud, thats what cowards like you do, resort to name calling when they are exposed.

Ete calabar

I gave u linker...mr nsibidi inventor...i laugh in obudu

notobs:


We are talking about you and your cohorts through intellectual fraud are trying to steal a peoples culture and identity. this is a serious offence and i take it seriously.
Manipulating Wikipedia and other online platforms is not a highly scholastic exercise anyone with a third grade education can do that. Keep wallowing in your intellectual fraud.
This your new found fad with Nsibidi, the sacred language of a sacred Ekpe cultural group will soon fade, Ekpe and Nsibidi will outlive you, your fad and your intellectual fraud just as it has done after all this centuries of unslaught from slavery, to colonialism, to christianity and modernism.

you are really going bananas.. I pity your life.....

notobs:


And yours too, What an intellectual fraud you are. you are mad because i stood up for my culture? I cant let you steal that too.

you sound repetitive and that's what makes you a liar!! You are not from efik, Akwaibom or cross river!!!

notobs:


Nonsense all because i punch holes in your fraud, thats what cowards like you do, resort to name calling when they are exposed.

this quote is more popular than bokoharam, are u an impersonator ? Show your real identity!!

notobs:
[b]Nsibidi is the sacred Language of the Sacred Ekpe cultural society practiced by Efik/Ibibio people of cross river and Akwa Ibom State. This is well documented in history. The Ekpe culture were also exported to cuba, brazil and the carribean by the Efik ibibio Ancestral people through slaverywith it sacred language for the initiates of that society, In Cuba It was called Abakua where the practice was suprisingly preserved after all these years. and in 2004/2005 the Abakua of cuba Came to calabar for a cultural exchange where the ekpe dance, songs and Nsibidi the language of communication were compared to the Ekpe display of the calabar and the similarities were glaring and the Abakua were able to communicate effectively with the calabar ekpe using the sacred language Nsibidi to the Amazement of the initiates of both countries http://afrocubaweb.com/efik.htm

The Igbos do not have anything to do with Ekpe, nor Nsibidi its sacred language. The author of this piece is deceptive and wallowing in revisionist history. The Igbos have their own rich cultural heritage, they should rejoice in that, and not try to hijack what doesn't belong to them.
[/b]

You are such a dumb backward fool. People from the Enugu Axis call masquerades Ekpe ever since i was a kid. I did Ekpe as a kid and we called it "Ekpe Umu aka" meaning kid's Ekpe. If Ekpe could be taken all the way to Cuba and Brazil, why not to neighbouring communities? Borderline "educated" illiterate you are.

Most fools shouting about Nsibidi being their fATHER'S property can not even read or write it lol

romeo:


You are such a dumb backward fool. People from the Enugu Axis call masquerades Ekpe ever since i was a kid. I did Ekpe as a kid and we called it "Ekpe Umu aka" meaning kid's Ekpe. If Ekpe could be taken all the way to Cuba and Brazil, why not to neighbouring communities? Borderline "educated" illiterate you are.

The cubans and brazillian of efik/ibibio ancestry are the ones practicing Ekpe and Nsibidi , Not Igbo, Go there and also find the part of your Igbo history and cultural practices that were taken there and are preserved till today, we the Efik/ibibio have found ours in Ekpe/Nsibidi, the yourubas and other African groups have also found their culture preserved in the diaspora.
The igbos should do same and not try to usurp our own cultural heritage. The igbos cultural practice includes the OSU CASTE system, ebegede dance etc, go to cuba and brazil and the Americas and do research to find out if the people bothered to preserve such cultural practices! and stop this intellectual fraud that you guys are projecting.

notobs:
I will keep exposing all you revisionist historians, Truth is sacred. claiming other people cultural heritage is criminal

Am enthused by your great historical knowledge. Could you please enlighten us on the relationship between your "ethnic" group the Efik and the Ejaaghams.

@@@

as Biafrans we already know we are direct children of God!

The kingdom of God Yeshuaha not Jesus the white man brainwashed into must be restored of course Biafra

There is also a pyramid in Biafra and u dnt know that

what do they know

ndi ara always try to rewrite history the oduduwa

@@@@

mind u the efik ibibo igbto are one people

there is nothing like niger-delta even lord lugard in 1914 knew it!

but then they can always try!

we are seriously children of god that there is no point bowing to a yoruba pastor

@@@

The cubans and brazillian of efik/ibibio ancestry are the ones practicing Ekpe and Nsibidi , Not Igbo, Go there and also find the part of your Igbo history and cultural practices that were taken there and are preserved till today, we the Efik/ibibio have found ours in Ekpe/Nsibidi, the yourubas and other African groups have also found their culture preserved in the diaspora.
The igbos should do same and not try to usurp our own cultural heritage. The igbos cultural practice includes the OSU CASTE system, ebegede dance etc, go to cuba and brazil and the Americas and do research to find out if the people bothered to preserve such cultural practices! and stop this intellectual fraud that you guys are projecting.

nonesense!

@@@

At least we write their language and call it theirs no one is trying to usurp its heritage or change its history as your fraudulent brothers were trying to insinuate here,I do not pervert the anglo-saxon and roman as Efik. all over the world people borrow, language, art form, culture, words etc, But they always acknowledge the source or the root, Unlike the fraud that the Op and others were trying to perpetuate, If the igbos borrowed the culture or art form and language of Nsibidi and Ekpe, thats fine with me as long as they are humble and honest enough acknowledge the source they got it from and not try to pass it off as theirs.

You can call me all the names you like it wont change the fact on grounds, Others might value their money, others their station and status in life, We the Efik value our cultural heritage and will not stand around to see it perverted by anyone

black man disease

This is the reason Biafra must come!

we are not in the same league

kmariko:


Am enthused by your great historical knowledge. Could you please enlighten us on the relationship between your "ethnic" group the Efik and the Ejaaghams.

is ejeeghams not in northern calabar??

is calabar not ibibio?
#smh

Origin
The origin of nsibidi is most commonly
attributed to the Ejagham people of the
northern Cross River region, mostly because
colonial administrators found the largest
and most diverse nsibidi among them.
Nsibidi spread throughout the region over
time and mixed with other cultures and art
forms such as the Igbo uri or uli graphic
design .[5] In 1909 J. K. Macgregor who
collected nsibidi symbols claimed that
nsibidi was traditionally said to have come
from the Uguakima, Ebe or Uyanga tribes of
the Igbo people , which legend says were
taught the script by baboons, [3] although
one writer believes Macgregor had been
misled by his informants. [14]
Status
Nsibidi has a wide vocabulary of signs
usually imprinted on calabashes, brass ware,
textiles, wood sculptures, masquerade
costumes, buildings and on human skin.
Nsibidi has been described as a "fluid
system" of communication consisting of
hundreds of abstract and pictographic signs.
Nsibidi was described in the colonial era by
P.A. Talbot as a "a kind of primitive secret
writing", Talbot explained that nsibidi was
used for messages "cut or painted on split
palm stems". J.K. Macgregor's view was that
"The use of nsibidi is that of ordinary
writing. I have in my possession a copy of
the record of a court case from a town of
Enion [Enyong] taken down in it, and every
detail ... is most graphically described".
Nsibidi crossed ethnic lines and was a
uniting factor among ethnic groups in the
Cross River region. [5]
Uses

gemiclem:


is ejeeghams not in northern calabar??

is calabar not ibibio?
#smh

calabar is the name of an area in south eastern coast of Nigeria

Ibibio is the name of an ethnic group found around the south eastern coast of Nigeria

kmariko:


calabar is the name of an area in south eastern coast of Nigeria

Ibibio is the name of an ethnic group found around the south eastern coast of Nigeria

apart from aks and cross river,tell me another state that speaks efik/ibibio

Interesting topic

notobs:


The cubans and brazillian of efik/ibibio ancestry are the ones practicing Ekpe and Nsibidi , Not Igbo, Go there and also find the part of your Igbo history and cultural practices that were taken there and are preserved till today, we the Efik/ibibio have found ours in Ekpe/Nsibidi, the yourubas and other African groups have also found their culture preserved in the diaspora.
The igbos should do same and not try to usurp our own cultural heritage. The igbos cultural practice includes the OSU CASTE system, ebegede dance etc, go to cuba and brazil and the Americas and do research to find out if the people bothered to preserve such cultural practices! and stop this intellectual fraud that you guys are projecting.

Taa! Ekpe is not an Efik/Ibibio thing. It is a shared culture between the Igbo and the Efik/Ibibio, no one borrowed from each other, stop talking trash.

[quoteauthor=MissMeiya post=28105150]Inspired by the Hausa Ajami vs. Latin alphabet thread. Someone mentioned Nsibidi and it reminded me of this project...


From Wikipedia:

"Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri, nchibiddi or nchibiddy) is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently an ideographic script, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements. The symbols are at least several centuries old: Early forms appeared on excavated pottery as well as what are most likely ceramic stools and headrests from the Calabar region, with a range of dates from 400 to 1400 CE.

Aspects of colonisation such as Western education and Christian doctrine drastically reduced the number of nsibidi-literate people, leaving members of the Ekpe leopard secret society (also known as Ngbe or Egbo), as some of the last literate in the symbols. Nsibidi was and is still a means of transmitting Ekpe symbolism. Nsibidi was transported to Cuba and Haiti via the Atlantic slave trade, where it developed into the anaforuana and veve symbols, respectively."

From the Nsibiri Project:

"The mission of the Nsibiri Project ('nsibiri' is the Igbo variation of nsibidi) is to record and appropriate nsibidi ideographic symbols for a writing system to be used by the Igbo language and Cross River languages such as Efik, Ibibio and Ejagham. This is being done by transitioning nsibidi into a morphographic script. Nsibidi is also meant to inspire and encourage learning of the languages it will be used in.

Why not just the current ọ́nwụ́ script?
I don't know about you, but I know quite a few fluent Igbo speakers that have trouble reading a sentence in the ọ́nwụ́ Latin-derived alphabet. If you give an average Igbo speaker a novel in Igbo, even with all the diacritics in place, they will not be able to read it as fluently as an English speaker reading an English book. The problem, for Latin, is that Igbo is a tonal language and it has limited grapheme's (symbols) to represent the many different tones, phonemes (sounds) and syllables that Igbo utilises. Latin was never made for Igbo, it was there for the convenience.

Chinese, and some other tonal languages are read by billions of people with logographic writing systems. To a certain extent, Igbo/Ibibio was using some logographic symbols. Logographic symbols do not require you to pronounce individual parts of a word, but, rather, to identify the word as a whole which is important in languages with lots of homophones (where multiple words have the same sound). Ákwà, Àkwá, Ákwá are popular examples of Igbo tonality. Let's not forget the issue of Igbo language dialectal intelligibility and Standard Igbo; nsibidi could almost provide a solution to the issue of Igbo literature being unintelligible to certain Igbo languages, and the perceived bias towards certain languages by leaving open the pronunciation and variation of certain words and their tones. Nsibidi also cuts down words/sentences in Igbo, or those new/translated words that are actually sentences and that cannot be understood in one word using the Latin alphabet.

With a logographic script, backed by a simpler yet relevant syllabary (now alphabet) derived from the design of nsibidi, Igbo writing can go places that it may have never gone before."

Mockups of Nsbidi in use, from Nsibidi Wikia:


(me)
Onye wetara oji, wetara ndu.
Mum e achuki lipel, achu le liyil. (my language)
He who brings kola nut, brings life.


(me)
What is mbé?


(Gin)
Street sign


(Gin)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie poster


(omenalamarketplace.com)
E-commerce website


(me)
Anansi the Spider book cover (unfinished)[/quote] They should open a new school/center that will be base on teachin and diveloping of this Nsibidi alphabet within the 5 states of south east Nigeria and Akwaibom,Cross river state.

This Notob of a guy truly lacks common sense..
He probably has never travelled out of Calabar before.

@ Notob pls travel around so you can truly acknowledge the cultural unity between the Igbos, Ibibios, Ejagham and Efik people, instead of lazying around in your starched shirt in Calabar south while infesting this thread with your hate and ignorance.

I wonder what is it about the OP that you don't understand even in the face of facts. Anyways; someone just exposed you as a well known trouble maker and tribalist hiding under a different moniker. So now I see where your problem is coming from.

Mind you some people are here to learn and not to be irritated by some mad tribalist.

Op please do you have more info this project

OboloMAN:


Nobody is against its improvement.
You don't sideline the author of a novel because you are trying to improve his work in a movie.
Acknowlegde the owners of Nsibidi.
Why are the igbos trying to Hijack our agelong Cherished Nsibidi?

Culture Copyright.

please don't get it twisted,nsibidi was originated by the aros(igbo),efik,ibibio,ejagham and some of the other ethnic groups in cross river state,so don't link it to rivers state

cococandy:
the guy is so funny. Something I grew up witnessing every time we travel to the village when I was small. The ekpe society is still a strong one in mbaise. Who's key members remain kind of faceless . They use masquerades and "ekpo" masks to cover their faces during public performance to keep their identities hidden from the public.


Tagged: dailynews. What do you remember from ekpe society and their displays during iri ji ohuru festival.

Everything u said about the ekpe masquerade is true! I love it so much...though its been long I saw ekpe or celebrated iri ji. Lovely culture

DailyNews:
..though its been long I saw ekpe or celebrated iri ji. Lovely culture

me too. Miss home

Herald47:
please don't get it twisted,nsibidi was originated by the aros(igbo),efik,ibibio,ejagham and some of the other ethnic groups in cross river state,so don't link it to rivers state

don't mind him..telling lies when the andonis knew nothing else apart from canoe making. the nsibiri is peculiar to the Igbo, mgboko and Ejaagham peoples... nations of the cross river basin.

cheruv:

don't mind him..telling lies when the andonis knew nothing else apart from canoe making. the nsibiri is peculiar to the Igbo, mgboko and Ejaagham peoples... nations of the cross river basin.

anyway i didn't blame him because most indigenes in rivers state are fond of twisting history i.e the ikwerres

notobs:
I will keep exposing all you revisionist historians, Truth is sacred. claiming other people cultural heritage is criminal

did you miss the part where they said it originated from crossriver and spread to Igbo land?
In other words, they are all involved in the heritage .
if it spread to igboland, what should prevent igbos from developing it?
its just like formal education starting from the western countries, should Africans stop developing stuff because they didn't invent physics?
Your arguments are redundant, igbos use the terms ekpe which you claimed didn't exist in igboland.
You are really not from eastern Nigeria and you are fighting a lost cause .
Nsibidi is now associated strongly with Igbo in formal settings and you can as well go and hug a transformer

Ihuomadinihu:

Na wa. Come to Abia state and see Ekpe things. The fact is that Efik,Ibibio and Igbo share lots of things. No amount of denial can erase that relationship.

True but the differences are much more than the similarities. Efik/ibibio is one culture, Igbo is another
And Nsibidi has it's origin in the Efik/Ibibio culture

macof:


True but the differences are much more than the similarities. Efik/ibibio is one culture, Igbo is another
And Nsibidi has it's origin in the Efik/Ibibio culture

You can follow the link that was shared on this post (which Efik man Notob approved of.)

The link went into some detail about Ekpe and Nsibidi and its origin. Start from about page 28 or so. The Efik only adopted Ekpe and Nsibidi in the 18th century from the Ejagham people, who are neither Efik nor Ibibio.

In summary, the Igbo and Efik/Ibibio owe Nsibidi to a third group who they both borrowed it from. That group is the Ejagham/Ekoi.