This essay examines the counterfeiting and uttering of BritishImperial coinage in interwar Nigeria, and the response of the colonialstate. In particular, it establishes a connection between criminality andresistance to European colonialism in Africa. In this regard, itcontextualizes the preponderant involvement in the counterfeiting saga ofthe Ijebu, a subgroup of the Yoruba nationality in southwesternNigeria. Though other considerations were involved, the preponderance of theIjebu in making what was called “Ijebu money” illustrates how self-helpcriminality was both a means of accumulation and a veritable form ofresistance to colonial rule. Following their military defeat in 1892 andtheir subsequent alienation from British rule, this criminal activityrepresented resistance by other means. The point must be stressed, however,that not all Ijebu were counterfeiters, and all counterfeiters were notIjebu, and that the counterfeiters were no “heroic criminals”, whoshared their loot with the poor.