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“Abam incursions into Awka elicited a different response from its inhabitants. They mobilized themselves, forming a local vigilante group armed with sniper rifles to repulse the incursions. The sound of the guns alerted the local population to an invasion and thus helped in aborting Abam raids. The Awka also built high walls around their houses to foil kidnappers. During slavery the walls not only had perforations for firing guns but towers for monitoring the movement of intruders.”
-John N. Oriji, “Igboland, Slavery, and the Drums of War and Heroism” in Fighting the Slave Trade: West African Strategies, edited by Sylviane A. Diouf
