IPESI: A Traditional (Informal) Way of Crime Control among Ekiti People of South West Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines how a traditional festival amongst Ekiti people serves as an informal way of crime and deviant control. The study investigates how the festival is been done in other part of Ekiti Communities apart from the study site.  The roles performed by the festival in checkmating peoples attitude towards crime was also discussed in the study. Ido Ekiti, Ekiti State Southwest, Nigeria was the study location. The name ‘IPESI' was interpreted as the festival of criminals and deviants among the people of Ekiti though this paper established that different community has their own name to the festival. Purposive sampling method was adopted for the study. In gathering the data, qualitative method was adopted in which participant observation method was used. Five Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were undertaken among the leaders in the study site. In addition two FGDs were conducted among the community youths and the elders in Ido Ekiti. The findings revealed that the yearly festival is one of the way in which crime and deviant behaviour have been controlled in the community. It was established from the study that songs of numerous types, irritating characters were established against the victim(s) during the festival. Also it was revealed from the study that the festival is been attached to a particular festive period in some communities i.e. Ileya period, Easter period, or Xmas/New year; while some designate a particular period for the festival. From the findings it was shown that five to seven days is assigned as a period of celebration of the festival. It was equally established that people respect this method of crime control more than the formal method because it even involved the family members of the victim, and it has a negative impact on both the victim and the family presently and in future. It was established that the festival serves as a direct way by which the societal members get involved in criminal justice of the community as a result of different rites performed during the festival.