Opobo

Opobo Opubo
City state
Coordinates: 4°30′41″N7°32′24″E / 4.51139°N 7.54000°E / 4.51139; 7.54000
Country	Nigeria
State	Rivers State
Founded by	Jaja of Opobo
Government
• Amanyanabo	Dandeson Douglas Jaja V
Time zone	UTC+1 (WAT)

Opobo is a community in Rivers state, South South region of Nigeria that was founded in 1870 . The people of Opobo are a mixture of the Ndoki clan of the Igbo people and the Ibani clan of the Ijaw ethnic group. Their native languages are the Igbo language and the Ibani language, with Igbo language being the lingua franca.

Opobo is divided into 14 sections ("polo"), made up of 67 War Canoe Houses. The 14 sections are Adibie, Biriye, Diepiri, Dapu, Dappa Ye Amakiri, Epelle, Fubarakworo, Iroanya, Jaja, Kalaomuso, Ukonu, Kiepirima, Owujie, and Tolofari. ^{[1] [2]}

History

Further information: Jaja of Opobo

King Jaja of Opobo Memorial

Opobo is located to the east of the Kingdom of Bonny. Bonny and Opobo are of the same origin, both associated with the Ndoki people. ^{[a] [3]} an Igbo subgroup. ^[4] Jubo Jubogha rose from slavery to lead the Anna Pepple chieftaincy house of Bonny. ^[5] In 1870, Jubo first arrived in what is now Opobo, having moved there due to a civil war in Bonny between his followers and those of Chief Oko Jumbo, the leader of the rival Manilla Pepple chieftaincy family. ^{[6] [7]} The king named his new state after Amanyanabo Opubo "Pepple" Perekule the Great, a Pepple king in Bonny that had reigned there from 1792 to 1830.

Jubo Jubogha became involved in palm oil trading with Europeans. He started a trading post at Opobo Town, close to Ikot Abasi and 4 miles southwest of the Opobo river. Due to his dealings with them, he soon acquired the trade name Ja-Ja. Jubo Jubogha was never on good terms with the Annang and the Ibibio the east, as he declared himself as the middleman in palm oil trading, thus asking them to stop trading directly with the Europeans. This resulted in a war (the Ikot Udo Obong War) between Jubo and the Annang and Ibuno people as recorded by Nair. ^[8] In 1887, he was deceived when he was told to go and negotiate with the Queen of the United Kingdom by the British. He was captured upon his arrival on the consul's flagship, and was sent into exile in Saint Vincent in the West Indies thereafter.

Rulers

The rulers of Opobo were: ^[9]

Start	End	Ruler
25 December 1870	September 1887	Jubo Jubogha "Jaja I" (b. 1821 - d. 1891)
September 1887	1891	Perekule (chairman Council of Chiefs)
1891	1893	"Cookey Gam" (political agent)
1893	12 October 1915	Obiesigha Jaja II (Frederick Sunday)
1916	1936	Dipiri (Arthur Mac Pepple)
1936	1942	Sodienye Jaja III (1st time) (Douglas Mac Pepple) (d. 1980)
1942	1946	Stephen Ubogu Jaja IV (acting)
1952	31 July 1980	Sodienye Jaja III (2nd time) (Douglas Mac Pepple)
1980	2002	Vacant
1 October 2004	14 June, 2025	King Dandeson Douglas Jaja V (b. 1947)

Notable people

• Kenneth Minimah, CFR, a Nigerian infantry soldier and the former Nigerian Army Chief of Army Staff
• Atedo Peterside, CON, a Nigerian entrepreneur, investment banker and economist.
• Adawari Pepple, businessman, and former senator.

Notes

1. For more on the Ndoki and inter-relationship, see Umuagbai and Akwete, two major settlements of the Ndoki.

References

1. "Ikot Abasi". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 January 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
2. "About Opobo". Opoboregatta.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
3. "See the most dreadful masquerade in Opobo land - Opera News".
4. Ucheoma, Otuka (7 November 2015). "Egwu-onwa Among The Ndoki Of Rivers State". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
5. "General Minimah, his Opobo ancestry and the burden of history, By Eric Teniola | Premium Times Nigeria". February 21, 2014.
6. G. I. Jones (2001). The trading states of the oil rivers: a study of political development in Eastern Nigeria. James Currey Publishers. p. 15ff. ISBN   0-85255-918-6.
7. "The Izon of the Niger Delta by Onyoma Research Publications - Ebook | Scribd". Archived from the original on 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2022-01-20– via www.scribd.com.
8. Cf. Nair, 1972, page 183
9. "Traditional States of Nigeria". World Statesmen. Retrieved 2010-10-17.

Further reading

• Burns, Alan. History of Nigeria, George Allen & Unwin, 1929.
• Dike, Kenneth O. Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885, Oxford University Press, 1956.
• Annang Heritage Preservation, article on Annang
• Britannica article on Ikot Abasi
• Nair, Kannan K. (1972). Politics and Society in South Eastern Nigeria 1841-1906, Frank Cass, London.

External links

• "Pictures of Ikot Abasi". Picsearch. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-10-17.