Similarities between Benin and Opobo

OPOBO Kingdom in Rivers State now has a new king. He is King Charles Douglas MacPepple Jaja, Jeki VI. The king was crowned as the sixth Amanyanabo of Opobo and the coronation, which was held at Jaja Square, Opobo Town, marked the climax of activities that began on September 17, 2026, to celebrate the emergence of the new monarch and the rich cultural heritage of the historic Opobo Kingdom. The colourful ceremony was attended by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (68) GCFR and his wife, representatives of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara; the Obi of Onitsha, Nnayelugo Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, representatives of the Bayelsa State Government, the Amanyanabo of Grand Bonny Kingdom, representatives of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, the Olu of Warri; the Dean of Agbor; the Obong of Calabar, members of the Ijaw National Congress and other dignitaries.

King Charles was born in 1959 into the royal family of Opobo. He was crowned by Emmanuel Oko-Jaja, Bishop of the Niger Delta Diocese. The coronation came more than 150 years after the establishment of Opobo Kingdom, one of the historic Ibani kingdoms of the Niger Delta. The kingdom emerged from a political conflict in Grand Bonny in 1869, when Chief Jack Jaja Annie Pepple, known in Ibani tradition as Juwojuwo, and members of the Opubo Annie Pepple group departed Bonny and established a new settlement near the Imo River estuary. December 25, 1870, is traditionally recognised as the date of the establishment of Opobo Kingdom, with Jaja becoming its first Amanyanabo. Under King Jaja, Opobo developed into a major political and commercial power in the Oil Rivers region, particularly through the palm produce trade.

I expected a much larger crowd at the coronation because of the importance of Opobo, especially in the South-South region. The Opobo/ Nkoro LGA of Rivers State is made up of two Ijaw clans known as Opobo and Nkoro Clans, with different communities under them. The Opobo Clan is of the Ibani-Ijaw subgroup of the Ijaw tribe. Nkoro Clan is of the Okrika -Ijaw subgroup of the Ijaw tribe. Bonny Clan has 75 villages and settlements. Opobo Clan has 20 villages and settlements. Both are of the Ibani subgroup of the Ijaw tribe. Ijaw have 86 clans, and the single largest Ijaw Clan. is Egbema Clan, with over 350 villages and settlements under it.

Opobo has the highest literacy rate in Niger Delta. Opobo has the highest concentration of professors in Niger Delta. The first set of graduates from the University of Ibadan had many Opobo people. Over 60 percent of the families in Opobo send their kids overseas for studies and this behaviour started far back as 18th century when the children of nobles were sent to England to acquire Western education through Opobo seaport. Their men are well-mannered because in Opobo culture, mannerism is imbibed. Secondly, they are mostly educated and polished. They behave like the British because of their long relationship with the British centuries ago and thirdly, they excel in life; on average, Opobo people have quality human resources.

Prominent Opobo indigenes include Governor Amaopusenibo Siminalayi Fubara, the current governor of Rivers State; General (rtd) Kenneth Minimah (67), former Chief of Army Staff, Chief AtedoPeterside (71), founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Adawari Pepple, businessman and former Senator, Professor Millar Jaja, the first Orthopaedic Surgeon in West Africa, Professor Sylvanus Cookey, retired Vice Chancellor of the University of Port-Harcourt, Chief Dagogo Jaja, former Managing Director of Daily Times, Captain Horace Millar Jaja, an Airline Captainand many more. The history of Opobo is similar to that of Benin Empire. They had rulers who resisted the British Empire many years ago.

Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin,, was the independent ruler of the Edo Kingdom of Benin. Ovonramwen is renowned for his brave stand against the colonisation of his Kingdom by the British, for which he is generally regarded as the last great king of Southern Nigeria in nineteenth century who attempted to stem the tide of British occupation and conquest. During the nine years (1888-1897) he reigned, he sought to preserve the sovereignty of the Edo Empire as well as its economic interests, which, in the end, led to the British armed invasion of Benin in 1897. The Oba lost the battle and was dethroned and banished into exile for life, while his Kingdom was merged into a wider political unit under the British administration. By 1912, that unit, the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, had been fused with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria to become the entity of Nigeria.

“Ovonramwen fell for the same reasons as other great African rulers of the late nineteenth century who represented an age that was fast fading away under the determined thrust of the white man resolved to take over the political and economic control of the African coast and the interior—Pepple of Bonny in 1854, Jaja of Opobo in 1887, Nana the Itsekiri in 1894, King Prempeh of Ashanti in January 1896” writes the Professor of History, Philip A. Igbafe, in his book “BENIN UNDER BRITISH ADMINISTRATION”. Indeed, by the late 1880s, during Ovonramwen’s father Adolo’s reign, Britain had already mapped out Benin State as its area of influence. That was reflected in the visit of Captain H.L. Gallway, the British Commissioner and Vice-Consul of the Benin District of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, to Benin in 1892, four years after Ovonramwen succeeded his father as Oba. During that visit, the British officer signed a treaty with Ovonramwen for commercial relations between Benin and Britain.

Among other clauses, the 1892 treaty requested the Oba to co-operate with Britain in the interest of “order, good government and the general progress of civilisation”.

The implications of these, as later events were to show, were not fully explained to the Oba of Benin. Because for several years after the treaty, Oba Ovonramwen continued to rule his state in the tradition of his ancestors, refusing to “compromise his independence in order to pander to the needs of British officials and traders”, says Igbafe, adding that “relationship between Benin and the traders on the coast as well as with the British officials during those last two decades of the nineteenth century was particularly productive of friction from the British standpoint. This stage was thus being set for the overthrow of Benin.”

It was against that background that Vice-Consul James R. Philips, going against warnings about the provocation such a visit would cause in Benin, embarked on a mission to assess the strength of the Benin Army, and visited Oba Ovonramwen on 18 January, 1897. Phillips and a large number of his men were ambushed outside the city, to which the British responded with the punitive expedition of February 1897. Benin fell in that battle and its Oba was dethroned and deported to Calabar, where he died seventeen years later, in 1914.

Oba Ovonramwen reigned at a precarious time in the history of Benin. He succeeded to an empire that was on its decline, “probably because of attacks by other indigenous powers on the peripheral peoples of his empire, which led invariably to a shrinkage of his dominions and possibly to his throne.” As Idugbowa, Oba Ovonramwen had to fight off opposition to his accession to the throne of his father in 1888; even after that he could only consolidate his rule through purges and executions.

Yet Oba Ovonramwen was determined from the beginning to make his reign as purposeful as possible by maintaining court in the tradition of his ancestors, which he hoped to preserve. The human sacrifices at which the British protested were part of tradition which the Oba could not abandon. He lost his throne and power in the bid to defend that tradition against foreign aggression. One result of the aggression was the looting of vast quantities of Benin’s excellent works of art, now scattered over the world.

In 1914, the monarchy was restored under Oba Ovonramwen’s eldest son, Eweka II, who was succeeded in turn, in 1933, by Akenzua II.

READ ALSO: Group bemoans dwindling fortunes of Benin people

Let us now look at the Jaja, King of Opobo. He was famous for his resistance to the imposition of colonial domination. He was a slave sold into house of Anna Pepple of Bonny and rose to the headship of his master’s “house”. He later established himself as the most dominant figure in the politics of the Delta states when he became King of the newly founded Kingdom of Opobo. Succession to the headship of an Ijaw trading “house” was not based on heredity but on one’s ability to provide for the welfare of the members of the house. Jaja’s accession to the headship around 1869 caused resentment in other members of the Anna Pepple house. This culminated in a civil war from which Jaja emerged the victor.

After the civil war in Bonny, Jaja led his house to the Opobo river where he founded the Kingdom of Opobo. Here his business acumen and capacity found full scope; he soon established plantations and built a port and strategically placed trading settlements on the creeks, which not only enabled him to control the supply of palm oil to the European merchants along the coast but also made Opobo one of the richest Delta states.

With the wealth came political influence and military power. Such was the strength of Jaja’s army that during the Ashanti war he committed a contingent of his soldiers to the British effort, for which he was awarded a sword of honour by Queen Victoria in 1875.

In 1870, having consolidated his new settlement, he proclaimed Opobo an independent state consisting of 14 of the 18 houses of Bonny. Three years later, the new state was recognised by Britain, which in 1884 entered into a “treaty” with Opobo, placing the latter under the protection of the British Crown. However, the proclamation of a British Protectorate over the Oil Rivers in 1885 not only heralded the demise of the independence of the coastal city-states but also precipitated a quarrel between Jaja and the British.

Jaja was the only ruler in the Delta area who questioned the new political order by seeking a definition of the word “protectorate” from the British, who replied vaguely that Her Majesty’s Government would only extend to his kingdom her “gracious favour and protection”. He accepted the explanation, believing that Opobo’s new relationship with Britain would not affect its independence. Accordingly, he continued to monopolise the oil trade, forbidding anyone to deal directly with European merchants on the coast while continuing his direct exports to Britain. As a result, Jaja saw the British insistence on “free” trade as interference and a violation of the 1884 treaty.

The British Consul in Oil Rivers, Harry Johnston, was opposed to Jaja’s continued independence. In 1887, Jonston abrogated his power to impose customs duties on oil exports from the state. Jaja sent a delegation to London to protest to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Meanwhile, Consul Johnston had written to the British Government requesting permission to expel Jaja who had requested successive threats to compel him to meet British demands. The King was “invited” on board a British gunboat, HMS Goshwk, to meet Consul Johnston. Jaja was reassured by Johnston on the eve of their meeting that “I hereby assure you that whatever you accept or reject my proposals tomorrow no restraint whatever will be put on you—you will be free to go as soon as you have heard the message of the government”.

But once on board, Jaja was asked to choose between being tried for violating the treaty and seeing Opobo bombed by the British Navy. The King opted for trial, which was then held in Accra, Ghana. He was found guilty and banished in 1887 to the West Indies on a pension of 800pounds per annum. This paved the way for the establishment of an effective colonial authority over the region which in the first year provided nearly 90,000 from import duties alone.

King Jaja’s deportation caused much discontent in the Oil Rivers states. After repeated appeals to British Government, the Colonial Secretary set up a commission to investigate and make recommendations for the administration of the new policy. In 1891, the commission, headed by Major Claude MacDonad, recommended that, in response to popular demand in Opobo, King Jaja should be returned and reinstated. In the same year, King Jaja was allowed to return, but on the way back, he died on July 7, 1891. His body was subsequently transported to Opobo, where it was buried. 

There are some countries that fought wars before achieving their independence. I have in mind the Mahdist War fought in Sudan between the British and Egypt.The Xhosa wars between Xhosa kingdom and the British Empire. The Algerian war between France and Algeria, the Dahomey war between Dahomey kingdom and France. The Battle of Mbwila between Congo and Portugal. The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Kenya Emergency, was a brutal guerrilla war fought between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army and British colonial forces. The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) was led by Dedan Kimathi.

KLFA members mostly belonged to the Kikuyu ethnic group, although there was a great number of people from the Meru, Maasai and Kamba people, among others.

The Rhodesian Bush War was a civil war between three forces: the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the military wing of ZANU led by Robert Mugabe; the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), of ZAPU and Joshua Nkomo, and the Rhodesian Security Forces of Ian Smith.

The Anglo-Zulu War was fought between the Zulu Kingdom and Britain. It had many bloody battles; Britain lost more soldiers than usual for colonial wars.

Britain wanted to wage war against the Zulu Kingdom so that it could control the region and use African labour in sugar plantations and mines.

In December of 1878, Sir Bartle Frere sent an ultimatum to the Zulu King Cetshwayo. The king did not accept it and Britain invaded the Zulu Kingdom.

The Anglo-Zulu War lasted close to six months, from January to July 1879. It took place in the Zulu Kingdom, which is in northeastern modern-day South Africa.

The Maji Maji Rebellion was war between various peoples in Tanzania and Germany.

During colonialism, Germans forced Tanzanians to labour for them. Tanzanians had to build their roads and were forced to grow cash crops like cotton for Germans to sell overseas.

Tanzanians warred against the Germans to put a stop to their suffering.

The Maji Maji Rebellion took place on the land of many ethnic groups like the Matumbi and Ngoni peoples in Tanganyika which is now southern Tanzania. It lasted 2 years, from 1905 to 1907.

After Germany won the Maji Maji Rebellion, there was a famine called Ukame, or the Great Hunger, because of the scorched-earth policies the governor G.A. von Götzen used during the war.

It took more independence movements, led by people like Dr. Julius Nyerere with TANU, for Tanzania to become independent from Britain.

The Rif War was a war between the Rif Republic and Spain, later joined by France. Different Amazigh ethnic groups formed the Rif Republic.

At the Berlin Conference, Spain decided that the Rif region was Spanish territory; however, until then Spain had no real power there.

The Rif was rich in high-grade iron, that Spain soon started mining, something that Riffians did not want.

The War of the Golden Stool, or the Fifth Anglo-Ashanti War, was a war between the Ashanti Kingdom and Britain.

The Golden Stool was a royal and sacred throne and the symbol of power in the Ashanti Kingdom.

In 1900, at a meeting with Ashanti leaders, Governor Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, demanded to have the Golden Stool and to sit on it – so that Britain could rule the Ashanti and their land, which was rich in gold.

Soon after, the Ashanti kingdom, led by the Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa, fought back to protect the Golden Stool.

The War of the Golden Stool lasted 7 months, from March to September 1900. The war took place in the Ashanti Kingdom, in modern-day Ghana.

The Portuguese Colonial War was a war between various African independence movements and Portugal.

Major movements include the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO).

During Portuguese colonialism, Africans were forced to work, often with no pay, and their land was made into official overseas provinces of Portugal.

Africans fought Portugal to end colonialism and take back their land and freedom. During the Portuguese War most African countries were already independent.

The Portuguese Colonial War was fought during the Cold War between 1961 and 1974, it lasted 13 years.

It took place on three different territories, known as Portuguese Africa at the time, today, they are the countries of Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.

All three countries became independent from Portugal between 1973 and 1974.

Nigeria is lucky, we did not take part in any military adventure before we got our independence. Our independence was negotiated diplomatically. But some units within the country like Benin, Bonny and Opobo kingdoms, experienced brutal British colonisation. The great-grandson of Oba Ovonramwen, the current Oba of Benin, Oba Eheneden Erediauwa, Ewuare II, was crowned on October 20, 2016. King Charles Douglas MacPepple Jaja, Jeki VI of Opobo has just begun an expected long reign. May their era be peaceful and progressive.

Eric Teniola, a former director at the Presidency, wrote from Lagos.