King Jaja of Opobo (full name: Jubo Jubogha; 1821–1891) was the first king (amanyanabo) of Opobo. He was the founder of Opobo city-state in present day Rivers State of Nigeria. Born in Umuduruoha Amaigbo in present-day Imo State, his actual birth date, as well as his birth parents, is unknown.
Jaja earned his way out of servant hood (apprenticeship) after serving his master for some years. At the death of his master, he took charge of the trades and went on to head the Anna Pepple House merchant faction of Bonny Island. Under him, Anna Pepple absorbed other trade houses until a dispute with the Manilla Pepple House led by Oko Jumbo compelled Jaja to break away to form the Opobo city-state (26 miles east of Bonny) in 1869.
Opobo came to be a prominent trading post in the region's palm oil trade. Jaja blocked the access of British merchants to the interior effectively monopolizing trade; Opobo also shipped palm oil directly to Liverpool, independent of British middlemen.
At the 1884 Berlin Conference the Europeans designated Opobo as British territory. When Jaja refused to cease taxing the British traders, Henry Hamilton Johnston, a British vice consul, invited Jaja for negotiations in 1887. Jaja was arrested on arrival aboard a British vessel; he was tried in Accra in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) then exiled, first to London, and later to Saint Vincent and Barbados in the British West Indies.
In 1891, Jaja was granted permission to return to Opobo, but died en route. Following his exile and death, the power of the Opobo state rapidly declined.
PUBLICATION: Omotoso Ibukunoluwa
SOURCE: Cookey, S. J. S. (2005) [1974].
No comments:
Post a Comment