Case file · Folklore / legend
Egbesu and the bulletproof charms
After the Kaiama Declaration of 11 December 1998, in which Ijaw youth demanded control of Niger Delta oil, young fighters known as the Egbesu Boys said charms of the war deity Egbesu made them bulletproof.
1998 CE · 5.13, 6.29 · status: claim
The account
Egbesu is an Ijaw deity of justice and self-defence; initiates follow strict moral rules for the protection to work. Soldiers deployed in early 1999 killed many protesters.
The sceptical view
The deaths showed the charms did not stop bullets; believers explain failures by broken taboos, which makes the belief hard to test.