JAJA OF OPOBO: THE LIFE HISTORY OF JAJA OF OPOBO

 JAJA OF OPOBO: THE LIFE HISTORY OF JAJA OF OPOBO.

Mbanaso Ozurumba Okwara was born around 1821 in Umudoruoha Amaigbo town in south eastern Igbo speaking area presently in Nwangele local government area of Imo State. He was kidnapped at the age of 12 and sold to a powerful slave trader Chief Allison. But due to his insubordination made Allison to sell him out and he was resold to Chief Madu in1833 of the House of Anna Pepple. At the death of Madu, his position went to Aldin his son. But his son was inept and weak and incurred so many debts. By the time he died in 1861, the Anna Pepple House was bankrupt. It was as a result of this vacuum that Mbanaso was chosen to head the House of Anna Pepple unanimously due to his wealth, power and ambition in 1863. 

The charismatic Mbanaso rose to the society through a sheer force of character. He was able to clear off the debt which he incurred from his successor and went further to establish trading relationship with the British Navy officers. He bore an honorific name Jubo Jubogha. He was fondly called by his kinsmen as Jujo whereas the European christened him Jaja thus King Jaja. 

King Jaja was able to register himself within the Niger-Delta as a very wealthy trader in palm oil and a powerful middleman who served as intermediary between the people of Niger-Delta and the European traders. The wealth he made in palm oil arose envy from many other houses and competition ensued from several houses particularly Manilla Pepple House headed by Oko Jumbo. By 1869, war broke out between the two houses and King Jaja secured his independence and moved inland to secure a new land which he named Opobo and took fourteen chiefs from the eighteen Bonny Chiefs and signed a treaty of protection in 1870 with Charles Livingstone. 

According to this treaty, it gave protection to the Opobo also with this treaty he was officially recognised as the leader of Opobo. He got married to several women from different tribes in an effort to strengthen his position. He also understood the importance of education hence he enrolled Mark and Sunday Jaja to study abroad (Scotland). The British official manipulated the rivalry among King Jaja and other Bonny Chiefs by giving them impression that they would secure unalloyed support of the British if they allow their warriors to be drilled by the British military officers. Through this, the British officials were able to get soldiers to fight on their behalf such as Asante war of 1873. King Jaja sent 105 warriors while Manilla sent 53 warriors to the British. By circa 1875 King Victoria of England gifted Jaja of Opobo a sword in recognition of his military patronage. 

However, the commercial acumen and wealth of King Jaja brought about a lot of jealousy from the locals and the British. First, his position as a powerful middleman meant that the British traders must pass through him before they could procure palm oil. He bought from the hinterland and sold to the British traders for export. His position denied the British a direct access to the hinterland even though the British agents paid their taxes (money and dash) for them to trade along the coastline. This attitude brought him to the collision with the Bitish traders. Thus, on 19th of December 1884 another treaty was signed with Edward Hyde Hewett to allow the British to trade freely. Following the Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 with which the British government got the effective control of Nigeria. With this, the British agents wanted to get rid of King Jaja of Opobo in order to trade with the hinterland freely. 

Hence, by 1887, Edward ordered all the British agents to stop paying taxes to King Jaja of Opobo. In that same year, he went on a sick leave allowing the impatient Henry Hamilton Johnson to deputise him as the acting consul of the Bight of Benin and Biafra. Johnson continued to have disagreement with King Jaja. 

Hence, on the 19th September 1887 King Jaja of Opobo was summoned by Henry Hamilton Johnson on board. He was confronted with a gun boat Hms Goshawk but ostensibly to negotiate trade activities and to end trading conflict or dispute. When he got on board, he was given two options: one to go back to Opobo land and watch it as being bombarded; two to allow himself for trial in Accra. King Jaja chose to go to Accra for prosecution. 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. His presence in the West Indies was alleged to be the cause of civil unrest, as the people of Barbados, of African descent, were upset at the poor treatment of a King from their homeland.

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. In 1903 the King Jaja of Opobo Memorial was erected in his honor in Opobo town centre.

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