Opobo

A community in Rivers State.

The kingdom was founded in 1870 by Jubo Jubogha AkA JaJa.

The native language is the Ibani, a dialect of Ijaw that is closely related to Kalabari.

Majority speak Igbo called Okwu Ubani which is similar to Ndoki dialect due to their heterogeneous ancestry.

Home of several islands

Opobo is 2 meters above the sea level.

Divided into 14 sections.

Customs and Tradition: Dogs are forbidden, shooting a gun is not allowed, No wearing of caps when passing through a gateway that links a compound to another, making nose, pounding or quarreling at night is forbidden.

Initiation into womanhood is important or some of your rights as a woman would be denied.

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Igbo Communities Renamed by the British During the Colonial Era.

Igbo History

During the colonial era, several Igbo communities had their names changed by the British due to difficulties in pronouncing the original names. Below are some of these communities and their original names:

Owerri – Original Name: Owe Ere

Orlu – Original Name: Ọlụ

Awkuzu – Original Name: Ọkụ Ụzọ Achagbunam

Okigwe – Original Name: Oka Igwe

Enugu – Original Name: Enu Ugwu (meaning “mountain town”)

Okpala – Original Name: Ọkpụ Ala Ngwa

Port Harcourt – Original Name: Igwe Ọcha

Opobo – Original Name: Igwe Nga

Bonny – Original Name: Ubani

Oyigbo – Original Name: Obi Igbo

Abakaliki – Original Name: Abakeleke

Mbaise – Original Names: Agbaaja, Ahiara, Ekwerazu, Oke Ovoro, Ezinihite

Initially, these were five independent villages, but the British combined them into one community, “Mbaise,” despite their distinct cultural identities.

Asaba – Original Name: Ahaba

Onitsha – Original Name: Onicha

Ibusa – Original Name: Igbo Ụzọ

Ogwashi – Original Name: Ọgwa Ahi

This community traces its origins to the ancient Nri Kingdom.

Awka – Original Name: Oka

Awkunanaw – Original Name: Okunnano

Amawbia – Original Name: Amaobia

Umuahia – Original Name: Ọma Ahịa

These name changes reflect the impact of British colonization on Igbo communities, as the colonizers often altered indigenous names to fit their own linguistic preferences, erasing elements of the local heritage in the process.

The rise of King Jaja

Astute in business and politics, Jaja became the head of the Anna Pepple House, extending its activities and influence by absorbing other houses, increasing operations in the hinterland and augmenting the number of European contacts. A power struggle ensued among rival factions in the houses at Bonny, leading to the breakaway of the faction led by Jaja. He established a new settlement, which he named Opobo. He became King Jaja of Opobo and declared himself independent of Bonny.

Strategically located between Bonny and the production areas of the hinterland, King Jaja controlled trade and politics in the delta. In so doing he curtailed trade at Bonny, and at the end of his ascendancy, fourteen of the eighteen Bonny houses had moved to Opobo.

In a few years, he had become so wealthy that he was shipping palm oil directly to Liverpool himself. The British consul could not tolerate this situation. Jaja was offered a treaty of "protection", in return for which the chiefs usually surrendered their sovereignty. After Jaja's initial opposition, he was reassured, in rather vague terms, that neither his authority nor the sovereignty of Opobo would be threatened.

The fall of Jaja and scramble for Africa

Jaja continued to regulate trade and levy duties on British traders, to the point where he ordered a cessation of trade on the river until one British firm agreed to pay duties. Jaja refused to comply with the consul's order to terminate these activities, despite threats made by the consul that he would bombard Opobo. Unknown to Jaja, the Scramble for Africa had taken place and Opobo was part of the territories allocated to Great Britain. Lured into a meeting with the British consul aboard a warship, Jaja was arrested and sent to Accra, where he was summarily tried and found guilty of "treaty breaking" and "blocking the highways of trade".[7]

He was deported to St. Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), West Indies, and four years later, he died en route to Nigeria after he was permitted to return. In addition, the discovery of quinine as the cure for malaria enabled the British traders to bypass the middlemen and deal directly with the palm oil producers, thus precipitating the decline of the importance of the city-states.[

King Jaja of Opobo
Main article: Jaja of Opobo

Jaja of Opobo
King Jaja of Opobo (1821–1891) was an Igbo monarch. He was one of the most prominent rulers to come from the Niger Delta.[6]

(Early life, Jubo Jubogha)

Born in Igboland and sold as a slave to a Bonny trader at the age of twelve, he was named Jubo Jubogha by his first master. He was later sold to Chief Alali, the powerful head of the Opobu Manila Group of Houses. Called Jaja by the British, this gifted and enterprising individual eventually became one of the most powerful men in the eastern Niger Delta.

(The Niger Delta)

The Niger Delta, where the Niger empties itself into the Gulf of Guinea in a system of intricate waterways, was the site of unique settlements called city-states.

From the 15th to the 18th centuries, Bonny, like the other city-states, gained its wealth from the profits of the slave trade. Here, an individual could attain prestige and power through success in business and, as in the case of Jaja, a slave could work his way up to head of state. The House was a socio-political institution and was the basic unit of the city-state.

In the 19th century—after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807—the trade in slaves was supplanted by the trade in palm oil, which was so vibrant that the region was named the Oil Rivers area.

The Houses in Bonny and other city-states controlled both the internal and external palm oil trade because the producers in the hinterland were forbidden to trade directly with the Europeans on the coast; the Europeans never left the coast for fear of malaria.