Ekoi people, also known as Ejagham, are an ethnic group in southeastern Nigeria and extending eastward into the southwest region of Cameroon.

The Ekoi have lived closely with the nearby Efik, Annang, Ibibio, and Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria.

[6]: 11  It was convenient for people to live in the Cross River area, as they were used as main roads and journeys for trade routes.

Symbols that are shaded in usually mean danger or bad fortune, and include ideas of a dead body or the death of a friend.

[10] Ntufam Ndifon Attah explains that "Ejagham" is derived from the combination of three words: ekub (a whole or parcel), ejag (split or broken), haam (going on infinitely or without end).

Put together then, Ejagham stands for that unified whole or parcel that was originally one but is now broken into pieces and is forging for reunification.

By 200 AD, the Ejagham civilization had developed to such an advanced level that gave inspiration to the creation of ingenious forms as exemplified by the Ikom monoliths[11] and Nsibidi script.

Domestication of animals like sheep, goats, and fowls was common while the knowledge of iron workings provided the tools through which most of these activities were carried out.

Before Igbo arrival to the Arochukwu region, a group of proto Ibibio migrated to the area and established the Ibom Kingdom.

This proto Ibibio group originally came from Usak Edet (Isanguele), a segment of the Ejagham in present-day Southern Cameroon.

The Igbo settlers invited Ejagham (Akpa) mercenaries led by Osim and Akuma Nnubi.

[7]: 5–6 Ekoi people taken into slavery across the Atlantic were notable in Cuba, where their art, seen in the forms of drums and headdresses, survives to this day.

Living in what is now Southeast Nigeria and Southwest Cameroon, the people were physically divided by British and German colonial holdings in Africa.

When a German captain named Von Weiss was killed, the European power took measures to combat the native Ekoi people (1899–1904 German-Ekoi War).

[12] The Ejagham, an East Nigerian ethnic group, was the first to make skin covered masks and dance in them.

Nkwa-mbuk, a mask-wearing society of the Ekoi, performed rituals such as human sacrifices and head hunting.

Men were expected to engage in combat in order to be accepted in a male power society and have the opportunity to get married.

Ekoi men have traditionally hunted, while women have engaged in fishing, agriculture, raising yams, plantains, and corn (maize).

The land provides the crops that grow in the fields, water to drink and bath in from the river, and animals to hunt in the forest.

[4] This tale raised the symbols of the roaring fish and the leopard as signs from God and so they would be referred to in every Ekoi court.

Though both powerful, Obassi Nsi is seen as the loving and caring deity who ripens the food that the Ekoi people plant in the ground.

Now, Obassi Osaw is seen as cruel and dangerous as he terrifies the people of Ekoi and is responsible for leading them to death.