prince and the founder of Opobo city-state in an area that is now part
of Nigeria. Born in Umuduruoha, Amaigbo, in Igboland, he was sold at
about the age of twelve as a slave in Bonny. Jubo Jubogha later took
the name "Jaja" for his dealings with the British.
Jaja proved his aptitude for business at an early age, earning his way
out of slavery; he was enculturated according to Ijaw(Ibani) rituals
and eventually established himself as head of the Anna Pepple House.
Under Jaja's leadership, Anna Pepple soon absorbed a number of Bonny's
other trade houses until an ongoing dispute with the Manilla Pepple
House led by Oko Jumbo forced Jaja to break away as Opobo city-state
in 1869.
Opobo soon came to dominate the region's lucrative palm oiltrade, and
was soon home to fourteen of what were formerly Bonny's eighteen trade
houses. Jaja also moved to block the access of British merchants to
the interior, giving him an effective monopoly; at times, Opobo even
shipped palm oil directly to Liverpool, independent of British
middlemen.
At the 1884 Berlin Conference, however, the other European powers
designated Opobo as British territory, and the British soon moved to
claim it. When Jaja refused to cease taxing British traders, Henry
Hamilton Johnston, a British vice consul, invited Jaja to negotiations
in 1887. When Jaja arrived, the British arrested him and tried him in
Accrain the Gold Coast (now Ghana) then took him to London for some
time, where he met Queen Victoria and was her guest in Buckingham
Palace. After some other turbulent history, [ clarification needed] he
was exiled to Saint Vincentin the West Indies.
Plans were also made for him to be relocated to Barbados.
In 1891, Jaja was granted permission to return to Opobo, but died en
route, allegedly poisoned with a cup of tea. Following his exile and
death, the power of the Opobo state rapidly declined.
Jaja eventually won his liberty after years of fighting against his
wrongful abduction, and it was agreed by Parliament that he could be
repatriated to Opobo. Jaja was by then an old man and after years in
exile his health had deteriorated. He embarked on a British vessel
bound for Opobo, but his health continued to fail and on his way back
Jaja died. His body was shipped instead to Tenerife in the Canary
Islands, where he was buried. The anger and fury felt by his people
due to the chain of events that had preceded, compelled many Opobians
to press their demands for the body of their king, which was promptly
exhumed and transported back to Opobo for Jaja to be buried there.
Many of his people had never given up hope that one day their much
loved and powerful king (Amayanabo) would return, and after his body
was returned he was honoured with two years of mourning and with a
ceremony immortalising Jaja as a deity.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Your Comment is very important to us. Pls drop your comment after reading our post. it will help us to improve. Thank you