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African Security Review
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Traditional structures of crime control in
Lagos, Nigeria
Oludayo Tade & Faisol Olaitan
Published online: 20 Apr 2015.
To cite this article: Oludayo Tade & Faisol Olaitan (2015): Traditional structures of crime control in
Lagos, Nigeria, African Security Review, DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2015.1023325
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2015.1023325
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Traditional structures of crime
control in Lagos, Nigeria
Oludayo Tade and Faisol Olaitan
Notwithstanding the embrace of modern institutions of social control, traditional
social control mechanisms still enjoy patronage in Nigeria. This paper examines the
traditional structures of social control in Iraye-Oke, Lagos. In-depth interviews, key
informant interviews and case studies were used to obtain data from participants.
Findings established the functionality of traditional structures in checking crime and
its preference over the use of modern social control structures. Traditional structures
used include: traditional spiritualists who provide measures to reduce victimisation;
the family courts where adjudication takes place involving elders and family chiefs;
and the apex traditional court, presided over by the king, where cases like murder,
land disputes, adultery and fornication are decided. Traditional extrajudicial
measures involve the invocation of ancestral spirits at shrines.
Keywords crime, conflict, traditional social control, Iraye-Oke, Lagos State
Introduction
Criminal statistics and media coverage of crime in Nigeria have historically been biased in
favour of urban centres. Deller and Deller claim that such bias may not be divorced from the
stereotypes of rural mystique, rural lifestyle, and/or quality of life, and the proponents of this
view paint the rural areas as peaceful.
1
Another contributing factor is that media coverage of
crime in Nigeria is mostly driven by the location of government in the urban centres. Media
houses are mostly urban-based, while the limited community-based papers focus more on
issues of marginalisation –and when crime is reported, it does not reach the attention of
policy-makers in order to inform necessary intervention. Some of the characteristics of the
rural areas in Nigeria are: the decayed infrastructure, such as a poor road network, making the
terrain almost inaccessible, and an underdeveloped community radio network. Another factor
is the modern versus traditional structures of community policing. Inhabitants of rural areas
are often less predisposed to report crime to formal agencies of social control; they are inclined
to engage traditional measures of crime control to deter crime.
ISSN: Print 1024-6029/Online 2154-0128
#2015 Institute for Security Studies
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2015.1023325
http://www.tandfonline.com
African Security Review, 2015
Oludayo Tade is a fellow of the
Institute for Money, Technology
and Financial Inclusion at the
University of California, USA, and
the Council for the Development
of Social Science Research in
Africa, Dakar (dotad2003@
yahoo.com)
Faisol Olaitan is a doctoral
student in the Department of
Sociology, University of Ibadan,
Nigeria (olaitanfaysal@gmail.
com)
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While Nigeria does not have any reliable data on crime and place of occurrence, more is
known about urban crime and the formal agencies of social control than rural crime and
traditional structures of social control. And as Weisheit, Wells, and Falcone observe, rural-
based policing is different from urban-based policing.
2
In this paper, we examine the
traditional structures of crime management and control of the Iraye community in the Epe
local government of Lagos, Nigeria. The objectives of this study are: to investigate the
structure of traditional crime management among the Iraye-Oke people; to examine rural
people’s understanding of the potency of traditional mechanisms of crime control; and to
analyse how the adoption of traditional crime control methods enhance social order and
conformity to norms.
Studies on crime and location have tended to focus on urban occurrences, particularly in
African societies.
3
A number of studies have correctly argued that criminologists have tended to
ignore rural crime.
4
Because of the ‘rural mystique’and perceived homogeneity of rural
America, criminologists have viewed rural crime as an uninteresting topic. Elsewhere, Wells and
Falcone suggest that ‘there are notable rural communities and populations where the familiar
pattern of rural safety does not hold, and where some rural residents are measurably more
vulnerable to violent criminal victimization than many urban residents’.
5
While a larger
percentage of criminal activities takes place in the cities, more than 50% of the Nigerian
population live in rural areas. According to Okunola, crime management in indigenous
communities should be of criminological interest.
6
Writing on African societies, Sesay
observes thus:
the peoples of Africa had known and enjoyed a comparatively tranquil and traditional
existence, devoid of the complex trappings of modern society and all the anxieties and
restlessness involved in modern living. However, the emergence from a colonial/
traditional past has brought with it not only a desire but an obligation to modernize
and to develop a capacity to keep abreast of technological, scientific, economic, and
ideological developments in other parts of the world, as a necessary condition for equal
partnership in a highly complex and competitive world community. As the move away
from the traditional forms of society gathers momentum, the traditional institutional
framework and the old concepts of life and behaviour gradually give way to new ideas of
social organization, behaviour patterns, authority, and responses to stresses. Often, these
new ideas and the corresponding opportunities created are grossly misunderstood and
exaggerated, especially by the young. Many see in these new changes boundless
opportunities to discard old values, social ties, and obligations to others, with the
likelihood of succumbing to the temptation to satisfy needs and desires through
illegitimate methods and means.
7
Traditional social control in Nigeria has its roots in kinship and the extended family system.
Prior to the advent of formal agencies of social control, indigenous communities maintained
law and order. Communities displayed their aversion to behaviours likely to threaten
collectively cherished values, and erring members were sanctioned. During this period, three
political models were identified –each with its attendant legal systems spanning family courts,
market courts (commercial courts), street courts (open courts), and the palaces (royal courts).
8
There were also various religious courts (especially that of the Ogboni cult) and some
divinities for the settlement of undecided cases.
9
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For indigenous sociology scholars, the Eurocentric criminal justice system was
inadequate for tackling criminal problems emanating from different cultures. The
systematic construction of a model of society from internal analytical sources is, arguably,
the surest way of avoiding danger. Olaoba contends that there is nothing universal about a
European social control system. He notes that the reliance on an imported system has
created tension between traditional and foreign models of social control, justice, and law.
10
For example, the English system was developed from the traditions, customs, and native
practices (tribal laws) of England. Thus, the English system is perhaps best suited for
regulating relationships among the English, not among Nigerians. However, most African
states, including Nigeria, invest a great deal of resources in promoting foreign social
control systems over traditional systems. But, since the foreign systems reflect foreign
(usually European) norms rather than African norms, the average African suffers from a
confused (normless) condition in which the official governing rules of conduct differ from,
and/or do not reflect, traditional practices.
11
That the use of traditional methods of social
control is prevalent in Africa is not in doubt and their efficacy is well established.
12
Okafor
argues that the traditional agencies of law and order continue to exist owing to the
perceived ineffectiveness and inefficiency of English law and justice, alienation from the
British-imposed English system, and the desire for quick and inexpensive justice.
13
According to Oguntomisin, three broad sanctions are applied in traditional communities.
14
Firstly, moral sanctions are imposed on actions that are contradictory to the convictions and
set values of the community, which are believed to be likely to lead to social disorder. These
sanctions are expressed either in mass action or verbally by the compound head, ward chief or
kin. Secondly, legal sanctions, which involve the use of force by a legal authority such as a king
or village head against any breach of rules and regulations for the maintenance of peace. And
thirdly, ritual sanctions, which are deeply rooted in people’s religion. Certain gods, goddesses
and ancestral cults in some communities are believed to be naturally averse to immoral
behaviour or any form of injustice. Such deities include Ogun, Sango, Ayelala, Ayeni, Lenuwa
and others among the Yoruba.
15
The deities are believed to be capable of handing down instant
justice to people who break their rules. The various forms of sanctions mentioned above
created fear in people and prevented them from engaging in anti-social activities that could
lead to public disorder.
Since crime is ubiquitous, the crimes of armed robbery, murder, manslaughter, assault,
kidnapping, child stealing, slave dealing, attempted suicide, grievous bodily harm and
wounding, rape and unnatural offences, religious conflicts, political violence and ethnic
violence are not limited to cities. Since the early 1980s, successive administrations have
attempted, using diverse strategies, to control surging crime with little success. This is perhaps
one of the most important reasons why scholars are beginning to advocate the use of
traditional methods in crime prevention and control.
16
We agree with Weisheit and
Donnermeyer who aver that ‘rural places must be viewed as a diverse array of people, places,
and cultures that present rich opportunities for contemporary research on crime and the
advancement of criminological theory’. According to them, rural crime is a function of
technology, geography, demography and culture.
17
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Research setting and methods
The study was carried out in Iraye-Oke, a rural community located in the northern part of the
Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State, which forms the second-largest community both
in size (1 185 square km) and population (181 409).
18
The population is mostly Yoruba (the
Ijebu people), while the major language is the Ijebu dialect of the Yoruba. Other ethnic groups
are also found here. The major occupations are farming and fishing.
Iraye-Oke itself is about 10 miles in radius, with a population size of over 10 000. The
population of Iraye-Oke comprises the natives of the community and migrants from other
parts of the country, who reside in the area for economic reasons. Some of the migrants are the
Hausa –mostly farmers –and the Yoruba, most of whom are involved in civil service work.
The residents are mainly Yoruba-speaking people. Iraye-Oke is bounded with Epe Central,
Odomola, Odenla and Ita-marun. Politically, Iraye-Oke is ruled by a king called Alawaye of
Iraye-Oke, with his council of chiefs like Ekeji-Ilu, Afobaje, Balogun, Lagbariko and others.
Three major religions are predominant in the community –Christianity, Islam and
traditional religions (diffused monotheism, although many deities like Ogun, Osun, Sango,
Oya, Egungun, Esu, Obatala and others are venerated). Many nominal Muslims and
Christians also participate in several traditional religious festivals. The area is divided into
three segments (Ayeni, Lenuwa, Adegoroye), each with its own deity for crime control and
conflict management.
The selection of samples started with the use of stratified random sampling, which helped
the researchers to stratify the study area into three areas using the Orisa/ancestral cult of each
area. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to reach the respondents. The
data collection technique was largely qualitative. One of the benefits of a qualitative approach
is that it facilitates the exploration of the fear of crime as multifaceted and dynamic, an
emotion which is situated in the details of individuals’circumstances and life courses
19
and
sensitive to spatial, temporal and social contexts.
20
The main instruments used for data
collection were in-depth interviews, key-informant interviews and case studies. Three
households were purposively selected from each segment of the community. Through
snowballing, another three respondents were reached from each of the segments of the
community. The respondents were those who had consulted any one of the deities. The in-
depth interviews were conducted with those who opted for traditional social control, while the
key-informant interviews were conducted with the king and custodians of the deities in the
three segments of the community. In all, 18 in-depth interviews and four key-informant
interviews were conducted. The data obtained from the in-depth interviews and key-
informant interviews were analysed through manual content analysis.
Ethnography of Iraye-Oke
Oral tradition indicates that the people of the Iraye-Oke community migrated from different
locations (Ode, Iwopin and Ijebu-Ode) and came to settle in what is today called Iraye-Oke.
The Ayeni, Lenuwa, and Adeyoruwa were the first to settle in Iraye-Oke. When the
population of Iraye-Oke grew to a reasonable number, they decided to appoint a leader to
submit their power to and lead them in their activities. After several deliberations, Lenuwa was
finally pronounced the king of Iraye-Oke, which made him the first king to the throne of
4African Security Review Institute for Security Studies
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Alawaye of the Iraye-Oke community, with Ayeni and Adeyoruwa being part of the council of
chiefs. These events marked the ‘formal’emergence of the Iraye-Oke community.
Traditional political administration structures of
Iraye-Oke
Iraye-Oke has an Oyo model traditional political structure, just like other Yoruba political
systems. The Oba (Alawaye) occupies the pinnacle of the political structure.
The executive and legislative authorities in Iraye-Oke contain features of the Oyo sub-
model of the Yoruba political system. A major variation is the authority that women have over
political decisions in the community. Informants were not able to provide adequate
information on the origin of this major political variation, but this may be connected to
matrilineal practices in the community. The political power of women is realised through a
female high chief called lagbariko.
21
Specifically, the council of chiefs’decisions on matters of
laws, festivals, rituals, and chieftaincy titles must have the approval of lagbariko before the Oba-
in-council can approve it. The action or decision of lagbariko is taken to indicate the agreement
of the town people and the council of chiefs. The lagbariko therefore has power of veto over the
Oba as well as the council of chiefs.
This political structure imposes sanctions on erring members of the community. The
sanctions imposed by a political structure can be moral, legal and/or ritual.
22
Furthermore, the
traditional political structure is supported by economic, legal and political, military and
religious consistency. First, the Alawaye has control over land (‘Oba loni le’), which he holds in
trust for the people. In concrete terms, however, land belongs to the lineage and the group
must ensure that each member has access to it. The rituals also play a very significant role in
the sustenance of the trial/arbitration structure of Iraye-Oke. This people have a host of
traditional rituals that are used in the maintenance of social order. These are the Kilajolu ritual,
Ifa ritual, Ile (land) ritual, Egungun (masquerade) festival, and Oro ritual. The political head, the
Figure 1 Traditional political structure of Iraye-Oke
OBA
COUNCIL OF CHIEFS
FAMILY
CHIEFS BALOGUN OLUTIIYALODE
O
LAGBARIK O OGA ILU AFOBAJE EKEJI
ILU
Olori Egbe
Olori Ebi
Omo Ilu
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Oba, gives much attention to these rituals. Such rituals often involve sacrifices and cleansing
rites.
The structure of traditional crime management
The participants identified four major categories of traditional measures of crime and conflict
management. All these measures, however, derive their authority from the political structure
of the community. The first is the traditional spiritualist called elegboogi and babalawo. This
category consists of diviners and ‘medicine men’whose task is to help guide against being
victims of crime. These people are patronised by community members to help them in
invoking the spirits to cure certain illnesses and track crime cases through divination. The
second is the family court (Ile-ejo agbo-ile), which is presided over by family chiefs and elders.
They mitigate crises, settle rifts, and adjudicate in criminal cases. This is referred to as Agbole
(compound). Wife battery, inheritance disputes within the family and petty theft, among
others, are handled within this court. The duties of this court are essential because any event
in the family may have direct consequences for the larger society. Third is the king’s court,
which is superior to the others in terms of hierarchy and includes members of the traditional
political structure. They preside over and decide on cases such as murder, land disputes
between different families, adultery, fornication and any other infraction by the council of
chiefs or traditional spiritualists that could make the ancestors angry. The fourth comprises the
traditional extrajudicial measures, which are carried out by invoking the spirits or ghosts of the
community’s deities with other ancestral deities such as Ayeni and Lenuwa. These include the
Orisa and ancestral cults –Sango,Ogun,Oya,Esu (for private or family cases), Ayeni, and
Lenuwa (for public/community cases).
Extrajudicial measures topped the list, with 45.5% of respondents recognising their
existence as one of the major measures of crime management in use in the community.
Traditional spiritualists (elegboogis) and traditional public courts came second, followed by the
family courts. The relevance of the elegboogis in the community should be seen in the context
of the cultural belief system, which holds that every man is prone to experiencing crime. And
like bad fortune in life, every attempt should be made to guard against it by taking physical
measures for the protection of property, but also through the use of omniscient measures.
Various priests of the various deities (Orisa) provide these services.
Only 9.1% of the respondents stated that family courts were preferable for crimes against
persons and conflict resolution, such as assaults and wife battering. A total of 22.7% of the
participants prefer the traditional political courts for property crimes, crimes against person
(murder) and resolution of conflicts, such as those between two households, while 45.5% of
participants support extrajudicial measures for checking property crimes and all other forms of
crimes, as long as the accused and the complainant request its usage.
Extrajudicial measures
Given the high preference accorded to extrajudicial methods, it is important to examine their
nature and operations in Iraye-Oke community. Commenting on extrajudicial methods
in African society, Olaoba states: ‘The judicial procedures upon which justice is administered
are crucial to the African legal heritage. In African societies, restoration of peace, reconciliation
6African Security Review Institute for Security Studies
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and crime prevention form the basic tenets of law’.
23
Besides tribunals, Oba’s court and
religious cults, there are other extrajudicial processes that drive law and order. These include
ostracism and satirical sanction. Ostracism is a form of isolation from members of the
community, which could be mere isolation, imprisonment or banishment/exile. Satirical
sanction or shaming entails public mockery, where the culprit is drawn or moved to a central
place in the community and mocked for his or her anti-social behaviour. According to Olaoba,
these extrajudicial processes are methods that are socially accepted and endorsed by members
of society.
24
These processes are beyond the institutionalised legal processes. They are mostly
used where conflicts or criminal injury are beyond human understanding or where the people
involved are not satisfied with the judgement received from institutionalised legal processes.
According to a male key informant who supports the use of deities (Orisa),
the reason people use these Orisa is because they want solutions to their problems and these
solutions are gotten from the use of these Orisa, which give instant solutions than are not
gotten from the so-called modern security agencies such as the police, so we will continue
to use these measures.
Implied above is the issue of certainty and swiftness of justice delivery, which is evidently
lacking when modern crime prevention mechanisms are employed. It is in the search for
quick justice that the use of deities is preferred. However, this preferred extrajudicial measure
is outlawed by the Criminal Code enacted under the modern state structure. A male key
informant cited sections 62(1), 62(2), 207(1) and 208–212 of the Criminal Code Cap 77, Laws
of the Federation (1990). He asserts:
The Nigerian government is so corrupt and they know how efficacious the extrajudicial
measures are that if used to curb criminal activities, they know they are in soup. This made
them ban the extrajudicial measures and enacted it in the law that anybody found guilty of
its usage for crime cases or conflict management shall be sentenced to seven years
imprisonment, which provided the framework for the suppression of extrajudicial
measures.
In spite of these and other related provisions of modern criminal law, these extrajudicial
measures have continued to feature prominently in crime management in African society.
25
While this can be traced to the resilience of the African culture, it is also possible to argue that
this might be connected to its continued relevance in adjudicating over African society. Several
factors compound the divide between Nigeria’s official security and law enforcement systems
on the one hand and the traditional forms of social control on the other.
26
These factors
include unjustified official unitary policing, corruption in Nigeria’s security agencies, and the
government in general. According to a female in-depth interviewee, extrajudicial measures are
popular because ‘it serves them …they get the type of results they are looking for in the
usage’.
Extrajudicial measures are products of culture and tradition with proven efficacy. As a
female in-depth interviewee avers, banning the use of extrajudicial measures potent enough to
detect and check crime amounts to condemning African culture and subjugating it to foreign
culture:
These extrajudicial measures have been used by our ancestors and great grandparents
which they handed down to us over [the] ages …. Its continued use and relevance should
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be seen as that of a bona fide ‘son’of that family, who should not be seen as using the left
hand to describe the location of his father’s house.
The above narrative underscores the importance of understanding a phenomenon according to
its social and historical context. Members of the community also utilised divinities, oath-
taking, consultations with ancestral cults and Orisa (egungun,oro, and sango). The diviners and
priests are consulted to make potent charms with their proven knowledge. The priests or
devotees of these divinities prepare charms, made of herbs, some animal contents and alcohol.
A spell is then cast over the charm. This rests on the belief in a spiritual universe; the victim
(who has brought the case) and the devotee, priest or diviner never look on the charm as
purely material. They believe in the invisible efficacy of the charm, provided that the mix is
made to specification and the correct invocation is given.
Unlike modern oath-taking, which involves the use of European religious symbols such as
the Bible, traditional oath-taking is taken seriously among the Iraye-Oke people because of its
consequences. Oaths are generally used as a curse when there is doubt or mystery over an
issue and the parties to the issue are unwilling to compromise and there is no clear-cut
evidence or proof. The consequences of fake oath-taking may range from insanity to death.
Hence, people of the town do not speak falsely when under oath. Furthermore, ancestral
spirits are invoked to solve crimes. According to lagbariko:
Ancestral cults are like a spirit; they are dead people, but are not seen and believed to be
dead by the community people because of their impact on the community when they were
alive. Their spirits are invoked to intercede in the community’s affairs, like cleansing of the
community, crime prevention, dispute settlement …. Though, some who are not in the
traditional line see and refer to them as Orisa.
When people become victims of crime or feel unjustly treated in some circumstances, they
refer such cases to the ancestral shrine, usually located in the compound of the founder of that
lineage. Certain rituals are performed, with the plaintiff providing some items. After
performing these rituals, the ancestor is expected to intercede and redress the injury suffered
by the victim and, at the same time, punish the guilty. The ancestral cults in this category are
the Ayeni,Lenuwa and Adeyoruwa. The Ayeni shrine is referred to as Osi Ayeni by the people of
the community, while Lenuwa’s shrine is referred to as Ode-Nla.Adeyoruwa is not visited
much by the community because he did not have a specific impact on the history of the
community and therefore does not enjoy reverence.
Apart from the ancestral shrines, some family compounds were found to have shrines
dedicated to a particular deity inherited from their forefathers. Deities like Ogun,Sango, and
Esu are invoked when members of the extended family feel aggrieved in matters of crime or
are in conflict. The deity is contacted by the family while the ancestral cults are invoked by the
public. It is worth noting that the role and efficacy of the traditional crime-prevention
measures in Iraye-Oke was widely acknowledged by the inhabitants of the area. A male in-
depth interviewee explained:
As far as crime prevention in the rural area is concerned, the traditional method is the
best –it acts so fast with immediate alacrity with just a token. What is even more interesting
is that, when the suspect sits on the leather mat used to sit at the Osi or Ode Nla shrine to
swear, the Ayeni or Lenuwa Orisa strike immediately if the person is guilty of the accused
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crime. The person could run mad or feel that his or her life is getting miserable
immediately, depending on the gravity of the offence or crime committed. So if fortunate
to scale through, such person would never attempt committing crime again.
Another male in-depth interviewee averred:
All of us who so said we are educated are pretenders. We pretend as if we know much
about the law and speak a lot of grammars but when serious problems arise like crime or
conflicts most of us still hide and run to the Orisas for assistance. After getting the
assistance, we will now wear suits and ties and speak grammar all around. We are just
deceiving ourselves.
The majority of the inhabitants considered the use of extrajudicial measures as the best
method for preventing criminal activities and manage conflict.
The
Ode-Nla
shrine and the priest
The chief priest at the Ode-Nla shrine is called Ekeji Ilu. He is a member of the council of
chiefs in the community and is in charge of the shrine. The Ekeji-Ilu purifies offerings to be
taken to the shrine, wherein lies the ‘sacred mat’, a tool used for extracting confessions from
parties to a case, or the accused person. The sacredness of the mat and the mystical powers
embodied in it can only be comprehended by shrine custodians and initiates, such as elegboogi,
lagbariko and shrine messengers. When a case is brought to the shrine for adjudication, the
victim presents his or her case before the custodians. He or she is then asked to sit on the
sacred leather mat to swear that his or her side of the story is the truth of the case. The Ekeji Ilu
then recites some incantations to ascertain or detect if the victim is telling the truth or has lied.
The accused will not be struck or afflicted if found to be truthful, but if a guilty person has
pleaded ‘not guilty’, the curse he or she has placed on him or herself while swearing an oath at
the shrine takes effect. This account is supported by the Alawaye of Iraye-Oke:
If a thief is caught, he will be taken to Ode Nla and there is an eni osi [a mat made of animal
skin] that the suspect would be told to sit on. If he should sit on it, everything he said to
himself will happen if he is actually guilty of theft. Till today, the signs of the events of that
place are still there.
Case study 1
There was a land conflict over the ownership of 16 hectares of land between a 78-
year-old man and a group of young people consisting of indigenes and non-indigenes of
the community. The 78-year-old man claimed that the land was a rubber plantation that
he inherited from his father, but it had been abandoned because, as a representative of
the family, he did not have enough money to carry out any work on the land. This gave
the group of young people the opportunity to encroach on the land and they gradually
started selling off the land plot by plot. This was unknown to the old man, until his
children got to know about the land and wanted to start a project on the land.
When the man and his children got to the land, they were chased away with guns and
machetes by the group of young people. Several arguments ensued over the identity of
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the original landowner. When the conflict began to affect the community, the people
compelled the two parties involved to take the case to the palace of Alawaye.
The Alawaye was able to give a detailed story surrounding the rubber plantation. This
story was in favour of the family represented by the 78-year-old man. However, the
group of young boys refused to accept the judgement and disagreed with the Oba of the
community. Instead of giving a final judgement, the Oba referred them to the Osi shrine
(Ayeni’sShrine).
At the shrine, every necessary ritual was carried out and one of the leaders of the
group sat on the sacred leather mat and swore an oath. Like the other members of the
group, he did not believe in the efficacy of the deity. As soon as he finished pronouncing
what should happen to him if he were a false owner of the land, the weather changed
and he was struck by a thunderous sound that made him run mad. As soon as this
happened, the other members of the group of young men ran away.
Source Author fieldwork, 2013.
The case study above attests to the efficacy of the shrine. However, when modern policing
was introduced to the community, some educated members of the community embraced it
and relied less on the traditional ways of social control than on the police and other modern
law enforcement agencies; at the same time, they encouraged other members of the
community to become reliant on the modern mechanisms. Data reveal, however, that there
was subsequently an unprecedented increase in the incidence of crime in the community. A
male in-depth interviewee explained:
It is a known fact that there was a time we relied on the police many at times in Iraye-Oke
community. This was because the police is the security agency vested with power of
investigation and empowered to arrest and prosecute offenders. But unfortunately, we had
witnessed so many situations whereby justice was not always done due to corruption that
has eaten up the system. For instance, a notorious thief is arrested today, in a couple of days
we would see the thief around again flexing around the community. This is uncalled for.
But thank God for today that we have realised the efficacy of our tradition. Using these
traditional measures had really helped the community to curb the criminals to the extent
that those who eventually escaped the wrath of the Orisa because they confessed in due
time absconded from the community totally.
This point was supported by a male key informant, who said:
The police people are so nasty that they just make issues get more complex. All they do is
labelling of exhibits. Today, you will hear exhibit ‘A’, tomorrow, it is exhibit ‘C’, another day,
it is ‘substantial evidence’. All these are to make issues get more complex, buy time and give
room for criminals to negotiate. A lot of delays are involved and it is said that the delay of
justice defeats equity. Before you know it, the accused is either released on bail and eventually
goes free. But with the use of all our various traditional control mechanisms we engaged in
today, no delays, no complexity and no grammar. Judgements are passed with immediate
effect without any manipulation and the accused would never go unpunished if found guilty.
Traditional measures as embraced in Iraye-Oke ensured that justice was certain and swift, as
the people do not want to go against the norms and values of their community due to the
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consequences of being taken to the shrine to swear. This is captured in the second case study
below.
Case study 2
A young boy had a quarrel with one of his friends and threatened to do something
evil to the friend. Unbeknownst to him, another man overheard all of the things the boy
said to his friend.
Later that night, the young boy went to his friend’s compound to bury a charm,
apparently to harm his friend. Again unbeknownst to him, the man who had overheard
the threats earlier had been following him and caught him red-handed as he was about
to drop the charm into the hole that he had already dug. He recited some incantations
and disappeared. He was then followed back to his home, and several arguments ensued
between him and the man that almost apprehended him. Eventually he was dragged to
Alawaye’s palace.
At the palace, he still denied the accusation. So, at the suggestion of one of the
members of the council of chiefs, they were taken to the shrine of Osi. As soon as he sat
on the mat, he confessed before even swearing. He said he was so afraid after sitting on
the sacred mat, because he knew the efficacy of the deity. However, he did not go
unpunished. He was struck by the deity, which left him an imbecile.
Source Fieldwork, 2013
According to Beccaria, certainty and severity are very important characteristics of
punishment.
27
However, as important as the two features are in any criminal justice system,
they may be affected by cost depending on whether a traditional or modern system of justice
administration is pursued. The modern method of crime control is believed to be expensive
and cumbersome when compared to traditional control mechanisms. This makes justice seem
out of reach for the rural poor. This was captured by lagbariko when she noted:
aside from the swiftness of delivering judgement, it is equally cheaper to use traditional
social control than the formal social control measures we have in our community. With the
traditional measures, a token of money and some animals depending on the Orisa to be
appeased –it could be a dog [Ogun,Ayeni,Lenuwa], cock or hen [Esu], ram [Sango]or
others –are just taken to the custodian of the Orisa. The custodian will mention a few rules
to be adhered to while the exercise lasts. Within a very short time everything is done and
the results follow in another few minutes, depending on the time frame given for feedback.
You don’t need to fuel the custodian’s vehicle such as you will fuel the police’s vehicle or
abandon all the other things you have to do all because you have to be writing a statement
and reporting to the station every day.
Her position is supported by a male in-depth interviewee, who observed:
The traditional control process is just like a laboratory where you drop your sample and
wait for your result. You don’t need to pay a lawyer to advocate or solicit for you before the
Orisa. All you need do is just sit on the sacred mat [if it is Ayeni or Lenuwa] or stand before
it [if it is others such as Sango,Ogun and the like] to swear and you wait for the result almost
immediately. I believe this way of our ancestors is cheaper for us because I don’t think a
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poor man can afford the financial implication of engaging a lawyer to advocate for him in
the so-called law court [where] the result can still be manipulated.
Another factor that is closely related to the issue of cost is the lack of trust in the modern
criminal justice system. One male in-depth interviewee explained:
We have tried the modern system many times and are even still trying but all to no avail. It
has never yielded a better result. Many of the policemen are thieves and all they are
interested in is what they stand to gain in a case and not the outcome of the case itself. The
way they attend to rich men is far different from the way they attend to a poor man all
because of the money they will extort from the wealthy man. But for the traditional
mechanism like Sango oooooo oba koso, nothing concerns him if you are rich or poor, if you
are ‘oga’[a boss] or ‘omo ise’[an apprentice], ‘alfa’[Imam] or ‘wooli’[an evangelist].
Everybody is equal before him. A criminal is a criminal as long as he finds you guilty. He
would just strike the guilty person after being invoked, carry the person to the scene and
put the stolen object on the chest of the culprit to signify he is actually the criminal. It’sas
simple as that. So no one can stop us from the continual usage of the traditional methods
because we see it as being very effective.
Many users of these mechanisms act in accordance with the dictates of the spirit. Some of the
youths interviewed opined that they consult the deities because they are the order of the day.
Some go there because their parents, who have a strong belief in their ancestors and
forefathers, have recommended it. In addition, they enjoy the spectacle when the accused
starts swearing in the shrine and when the ancestral cults of Ayeni or Lenuwa strike. In the
words of one of the younger male in-depth interviewees:
I so much fall in love with the use of Ayeni. Though, initially I didn’t like going there
because it looks odd to me but the encouragement I got from my father and stories I heard
about its efficacy made me develop an interest in the activities. After witnessing about two
or three cases, I now see it as fun by laughing and making jest of the criminal with my
cohorts. Seeing them confessing now makes it even more interesting to me because I
continue to see the efficacy and relevancy of the Orisa.
Another young male in-depth interviewee, in the same age bracket although of Hausa
extraction, said:
All the processes and activities of the traditional control look so amazing to me. Though, I
have once heard about something relating to this in my home town in Sokoto, I had never
witnessed any until I got to the Iraye-Oke community. I saw the relevance and efficacy and
I still continue to wonder why we still need the so-called modern police or whatever they
call them. I see the majority of people of the community consulting these Orisas to fight
crime and settle disputes that are not settled amicably. I gave it a trial when a guy who sees
himself as a ‘big boy’and cheated on me thinking I am just a common Hausa boy, [who
did not know] that I know about Lenuwa. I consulted the custodian and the necessary
processes were taken. I felt relieved immediately the result came out. The boy was
disgraced before his parents, girlfriend and the community. It is really fun to me. No
bribery, no manipulation, no corruption.
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A male key informant added to the above submissions:
We are no longer relying solely on the modern methods to check these criminals in my
own position. Although, some are saying all sort of silly things about the use of Orisa in
crime prevention, control and conflict management as being barbaric and uncivilised but
all I know is that the use of the Orisa has really helped us and for that they should not be
abandoned for any reason. For those who had used them in one way or the other and
some who even déjà [dare] their effectiveness have seen it. As soon as you swear on the
sacred mat, you are judged and punished if found guilty immediately until you confess
all you did including previous [crimes]. So we can see now that no matter how
‘unreligious’the system might be, with the use of the Orisa people are still afraid of
committing crimes because of the certainty and severity of the punishment that would be
imposed on them.
By implication, traditional forms of crime control remain potent in indigenous communities.
This is because it is believed to be a product of the people’s culture and tradition and therefore
not difficult to understand. Community members therefore weigh the consequences of
swearing to an oath at the shrine, bearing false witness, and getting struck by calamities.
Conclusion
This study examined traditional structures of crime control and management, as well as the
utilisation of this mechanism in ensuring social order, among the people of Iraye-Oke in
Lagos state. The study was motivated by the concentration of scholarly works on urban
crime with less attention directed towards rural areas. In Nigeria, more people live in rural
areas, hence the need to understand how crime is managed or controlled and the
mechanisms adopted. Four types of traditional crime control exist in Iraye-Oke: the
traditional spiritualist who provides measures to reduce the rate of victimisation; the family
courts where the adjudication of cases take place, presided over by elders and family chiefs;
the apex traditional court presided over by the political structure of the king (Oba), which
handles cases of murder, land dispute, adultery, and fornication; and the traditional
extrajudicial measure of ancestral spirit invocation at shrines. This study found the last
method to be the most popular, as it is devoid of human influence, which could feature
even in the apex traditional court.
To guard against bearing false witness, an accused is taken to a community shrine to swear
an oath. He or she makes a plea of guilt or innocence. The sacred mat at the Osi shrine (eni-
osi) has spiritual powers to detect the guilty and punish immediately. Whereas a guilty
individual is afflicted with whatever curse he or she has placed on him or herself, an innocent
individual is only vindicated if nothing happens. Owing to its certainty and swiftness to
dispense ‘justice’, members of the community continue to utilise the shrine despite the
existence of the modern criminal justice system. Swearing an oath or bearing false witness
carries heavy sanction while sitting on the mat, whereas the modern criminal justice system
has been proven to be incompetent at fighting crime in traditional indigenous communities, as
it is cumbersome and fraught with corruption. Indeed, traditional control mechanisms have
the potential for reducing crime commission and occurrence in cities if well harnessed. There
is therefore a need to incorporate traditional mechanisms of crime management and control
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into modern crime control mechanisms. Such integration could restrain potential offenders
and reduce crime occurrence.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers of African Security Review for their
valuable contributions and comments on previous draft of this article. We also thank Professor
Adeyinka Aderinto and Dr Rashid Okunola for their helpful comments.
Notes
1 ST Deller and MA Deller, Rural crime and social capital, Growth and Change, 41, 2010.
2 RA Weisheit, DN Falcone, and LE Wells, Crime and policing in rural and small-town America, 3rd ed., Long Grove, IL:
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3 LA Bouffard and LR Muftic, The ‘rural mystique’: social disorganization and violence beyond urban communities,
Western Criminology Review, 7:3, 2006.
4 C Barnett and FC Mencken, Social disorganization theory and the contextual nature of crime in nonmetropolitan
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Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 2005; MR Lee and JP Bartkowski, Love thy neighbor? Moral communities, civic
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and JF Donnermeyer, Change and continuity in crime in rural America, in G LaFree (ed.), Criminal justice 2000:
the nature of crime: continuity and change, Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, 2000.
5 ID Wells and DN Falcone, Rural crime and policing in American Indian communities, Southern Rural Sociology,
23:2, 2008.
6 RA Okunola, Limits to general criminal law: a study of traditional institutions in crime management in rural
Nigeria, PhD Thesis, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2006.
7 L Sesay, Crime and development in Africa, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
43:2, 1977.
8 O Imoagene, Handbooks of Nigeria’s major culture area, Ibadan: New Era, 1990, especially volume 2.
9 OB Olaoba, An introduction to African legal culture, Ibadan: Hope, 2002.
10 OB Olaoba, Interview at the Institute of African Studies, IAS University of Ibadan, May 2012.
11 N Okafor, Customs and traditions as answer to a normless Nigeria, NigeriaWorld, 23 September 2005, http://
nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/sep/232.html
12 N Okereafoezeke, Law and justice in post-British Nigeria: conflicts and interactions between and foreign systems of social control
in Igbo, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002; OO Elechi, Doing justice without the state: the Afikpo (Ehugbo) Nigeria
model, New York, NY: Routledge, 2006.
13 N Okafor, Customs and traditions as answer to a normless Nigeria, NigeriaWorld, 23 September 2005, http://
nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/sep/232.html
14 GO Oguntomisin, Peace-keeping and peace-making in indigenous Nigerian communities: a preliminary analysis,
Lagos Historical Review, 1, 2001.
15 OB Olaoba, African traditional methods of conflict resolution, Course Guide for PCR731, Lagos: National Open
University of Nigeria, 2010
16 F Fajemirokun et al, A GIS approach to crime mapping and management in Nigeria, paper presented at Shaping the
Change: XXXIII FIG Congress, Munich, Germany, October 8–13, 2006.
17 RA Weisheit and JF Donnermeyer, Change and continuity in crime in rural America, in G LaFree (ed.), Criminal
justice 2000: the nature of crime: continuity and change, Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, 2000, 309–357.
18 National Population Commission, 2006.
19 W Hollway and T Jefferson, The risk society in an age of anxiety: situating fear of crime, The British Journal of
Sociology, 48, 1997.
20 R. Pain. ‘Old age’and ageism in urban research: the case of fear of crime. International Journal of Urban and Regional
Research 21 (1997a), 117–280.
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21 According to key informants, lagbariko is a position held by an old woman mainly to foresee and give final say in
particular on every women’s affair in the community. She must be an indigene of the community and well inclined
in the culture and customs of the land, as well as having been active in the participation of the affairs of the
community. She has a veto power over legislative matters.
22 GO Oguntomisin, Peace-keeping and peace-making in indigenous Nigerian communities: a preliminary analysis,
Lagos Historical Review, 1, 2001.
23 OB Olaoba, An introduction to African legal culture, Ibadan: Hope, 2002.
24 Ibid.
25 C Abothie, Social control in traditional southern Eweland of Ghana, Ghana: Ghana University, 2007.
26 N Okafor, Customs and traditions as answer to a normless Nigeria, NigeriaWorld, 23 September 2005, http://
nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/sep/232.html
27 C Beccaria Bonesara, Dei delitti e delle pene, Leghorn, false imprint Haarlem, 1764.
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