Opobo

Opobo
City state
Ijaw States, including Opobo
Coordinates:
Country	Nigeria
State	Rivers State
Government
• Amanyanabo	Daneson Douglas Jaja V
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)

Opobo is a city-state in the southern region of Nigeria. The state was founded in 1870. A greater part of the city state is still referred to as Opobo in Rivers State and is made up of several Islands and communities, mainly Opobo Town, Queenstown, Kalasunju, Kalaibiama, and Epellema while a part of the city state is now in Akwa Ibom State, made up of Ikot Abasi, Kampa.

History

Opobo was to the east of the Kingdom of Bonny. Both Bonny and Opobo are of the same origin. An Igbo man called Jubo Jubogha (known as "Ja-Ja" to Europeans) led the Anna Pepple house (Wari) of Bonny. In 1870, Jaja arrived in Opobo from Bonny, moving due to a dispute with chief Oko Jumbo, the leader of the rival Manilla Pepple family (Wari). Jaja was accommodated by the Andoni leader, King Kpokpo and formed what he called "Kingdom of Opobo" which he named after Amanyanabo Opubo "Pepple" Perekule the Great, a Pepple King in Bonny that reigned 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 4 miles southwest of the Opobo River. The European traders called him King Jaja. Jubo Jubogha was never on good terms with Ngwa people to the north, Annang and the Ibibio to the east, as Jaja declared himself as the middle-man in palm Oil trading, thus asking them to stop trading directly with the European. This resulted in a war (Ikot Udo Obong War) between Jaja and the Annang and Ibuno people as recorded by Nair. In 1887, he was deceived when he was told to go and negotiate with the Queen of England by the British and sent on exile to Saint Vincent in the West Indies.

Rulers

The rulers of Opobo were:

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 2002		Dandeson Douglas Jaja V (b. 1947)

Notable people

• Kenneth Minimah, Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR (Born 7 February 1959) is a Nigerian infantry soldier and the incumbent Nigerian Army Chief of Army Staff, COAS

References

• 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.

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.