Meet ‘Ngang’: Disclosing the ‘Boo-Nsoh’ Code and the Juju That Shapes Tabenken’s IdentityThere is much that many sons and daughters of Tangmbo do not know. Just like in the 1980s, the buzzword was “think outside the box.” While many people are familiar with this old trend, very few apply it in their daily lives. Eventually, the concept evolved from thinking outside the box to systems thinking - considering all systems as interconnected, and using journey maps to identify where the pain points lie.
Lately, I have been reflecting on the very first traditional system in Tabenken. The original Tangmbo people–those who did not migrate from elsewhere are known as the Winkor. They are still present today and are now referred to as the ‘Boo-Nsoh’. The term ‘Boo-Nsoh’ in this context does not refer to children from Nso (although some individuals from Nso did later settle with the two Winkor houses to form part of the ‘Boo-Nsoh’). Rather, the ‘Boo-Nsoh’ of Kieku in Tabenken refers to those who founded the land–those who chiselled out the caves to make habitable dwellings and began living in the valley.
Their first settlement was at Bileleng, and researchers are encouraged to visit their forest, known as Kop Bileleng, to explore these caves further. The ‘Boo-Nsoh’ later moved from Bileleng which is now used as farmland and settled at the present site known as Kieku. The ‘Boo-Nsoh’ of Tabenken can trace their lineage to the founding ancestor MBIIEREHGY, who established the valley now called Tabenken. Any celebration or expression of identity that fails to acknowledge this ancestor reflects a serious gap in knowledge. I am aware that due to cognitive dissonance, this newly revealed knowledge long suppressed may provoke conflicting reactions.
As a descendant of this lineage, one of my responsibilities is to erect a statue in honour of MBIIEREHGY at Bileleng in the near future.
Two of his biological descendants brothers from the Mbiierehgy line are known as the Winkor. These brothers moved from their original settlement in Bileleng to Kieku. The elder, known as Nto, settled near the bat forest called ‘Kop Mlee’, while the younger, Mbep, moved across to settle at Njikor or Konkor.
It was Fai Njilah Nkur, a Winkor man of this lineage and a warrior in ‘Nfuh Bee-Njong’, who transformed into a bird of prey ‘Nkur’, a type of hawk and rescued the Fon of Tabenken after he was captured by the Germans and taken far away, as far as Mbijah, passing through Kurbar.
In the photo below is my uncle, the current custodian of the ‘Nlah Boo-Nto’ or ‘Boo-nto’ compound in Kieku, Francis Mburli, fondly known as Mburli Mbep. Though this nickname may have originated in another way, the name ‘Mbep’ clearly connects to our ancestor who settled in Konkor. It is the way of the ancestors to bring back or recycle names and characteristics in future generations.
Though the royal and sub-royal families of Tangmbo arrived later coming in from Talla and Tamba, along with their own power structures, the ‘Boo-Nsoh’ remained hospitable. They welcomed these newcomers but maintained their own systems, power, and landownership. During this era, a two-headed grandfather from this lineage was expelled by the newcomers, who feared him. Some ‘Boo-Nsoh’ people followed him to Nkor-Noni in Lasin, Bui Division while those who stayed behind preserved their systems and influence. Traces of this legacy are still found on the land in the form of the jujus and shrines ‘Ngon’, ‘Ngang’, ‘Mndengto’, ‘toh fuh’, ‘ntar’, ‘ndapngong’, and more.
Mbep, as he is fondly called in the photo, is leading the ‘Ngang’, which is praised during its display as ‘ngang Taa-Ngwang’, ‘Kamangang’, ‘Kamakam’ etc. The juju system shown here is incomplete. For it to be fully represented, the ‘ngon’, ‘mfirngang’, ‘ngang’, and others must be present. The red cloth he Mbep wears, called ‘bang cher cher’ in Limbum, is a symbol of the highest authority within Tangmbo–it outranks spiritually all other traditional power structures in the valley.
What is particularly remarkable here is the red garment worn by Mburli Mbep–an emblem of ancestral authority and power.
In the next write-up, I will explore the ‘Boo-Nsoh’ power system in more depth, and how the arrival of royal and sub-royal families, with their own traditional structures, gradually fused with the existing MBIIEREHGY ancestry structures to shape the functioning of the valley today. The royal family was given land at Konkor, where they still maintain their ‘Nkoh’, before later relocating to their current settlement at Manji in Mulah. The sub-royal family was granted ‘Memnkwa’, a rocky area which they initially undervalued, but in those days, land no matter its appearance was the greatest wealth.
Ta-Tfurndabi Tawong Cornelius
Edmonton-Canada
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