Jaja of Opobo, Nigerian Entrepreneurial Statesman (1821-1891)


http://www.newshelm.com/2016/06/epic-photo-of-king-jaja-of-opobo.html

His songs are evergreen .


I love all his album soo much

His story is an interesting one. But the British just had to destroy every good dream for profit and so they did with him

I just like this man cos i can vividly remember how he helped me during my assignment in our class then

'

Who em epp?

My man

what is epic about it?

Who e be

King Jaja of Opobo flung himself down in a lonely mood to think...

"EPIC".. some people needs to be taught how to use the word

ode

men of old.

I love the name "Jaja of Opobo"

In this present time and economy, King Jaja of Opobo would most likely be a ponmo seller

history class

King jaja of opobo, senibo come and see your king

He was the first known Nigerian
richest man, nationalist, a merchant prince and
the founder of Opobo city-state which now
forms part of Nigeria`s River State. Jaja whose
real name was Mbanaso Okwaraozurumbaa was
also a savvy political and military strategist,
brought to the Bonny Kingdom as a slave, who
was perhaps the most troublesome thorn in the
flesh of 19th-century British imperial ambition in
southern Nigeria.

EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND
Jubo Jubogba, also known as Jo Jo Ubam by
the Igbo and as Jaja of Opobo, first, by the
Europeans and later by most people, was born
about 1821 at Úmuduruõha, Amaigbo village in
the Orlu district, now Imo State of Eastern
Nigeria (Isichei 1976:98). At birth he was given
a native Igbo name Mbanaso Okwaraozurumba
and was the third son of his parents, the
Okwaraozurumba.


According to different oral sources, Jaja was
sold into slavery in the Niger Delta under
circumstances which are far from clear. One
version of the oral traditions says that he was
sold because, as a baby, he cut the upper teeth
first, an abominable phenomenon in traditional
Igbo society. Another version claims that he
was captured and sold by his father's enemy.
Regardless, he was bought by Chief
Iganipughuma Allison of Bonny, by far the most
powerful city-state on the Atlantic coast of
Southeastern Nigeria before the rise of Opobo.
To follow the Ja Ja story or, indeed, revolution,
an explanatory note is necessary. Until the end
of the 19th century, the Delta communities
played a crucial role in European and American
trade with Nigeria. Acting as middlemen, these
communities carried into the interior markets
the trade goods of European and American
supercargoes stationed on the coast and
brought back in exchange the export produce of
the hinterland, basically palm oil. As the Delta
is dominated by saline swamps and
crisscrossed by a labyrinth of creeks and rivers,
the canoe was indispensable for trade.
The Delta society was organized in Canoe
Houses. A Canoe House was the pivot of social
organization and also, notes K.O. Dike, "a
cooperative trading unit and a local government
institution." It was usually composed of a
wealthy merchant (its founder), his family, and
numerous slaves owned by him. A prosperous
house could comprise several thousand
members, both free and bonded, owning
hundreds of trade canoes. In this intensely
competitive society, leadership by merit - not by
birth or ascriptions - was necessary if a house
was to make headway in the turbulent, cut-
throat competition that existed between houses.
Any person with the charisma and proven
ability, even if of servile birth, could rise to the
leadership of a house, but could never become
king. Ja Ja would achieve this, and much more.
Finding young Ja Ja too headstrong for his
liking, Chief Allison made a gift of him to his
friend, Madu, a chief of the Anna Pepple House,
one of the two houses of the royal family (the
other being the Manilla Pepple House). Ja Ja
was slotted into the lowest rung of the Bonny
slave society ladder, that of an imported slave,
distinct from that of someone who was of slave
parentage but born in the Delta.
As a youth, he worked as a paddler on his
owner's great trade canoes, traveling to and
from the inland markets. Quite early, he
demonstrated exceptional abilities and business
acumen, quickly identified with the Ijo custom of
the Delta, and won the hearts of the local
people as well as those of the European
supercargoes. It was unusual for a slave of his
status to make the transition from canoe
paddling to trading, but Ja Ja - through his
honesty, business sense, and amiability - soon
became prosperous.
For a long while, Ja Ja turned his back on
Bonny politics, concentrating his immense
energies on accumulating wealth through trade,
the single most important criterion to power in
the Delta. At the time, Bonny politics were
volatile as a result of the irreconcilable and
acrimonious contest for supremacy between the
Manilla Pepple House and the Anna Pepple
House to which Ja Ja belonged. Coincidentally,
both houses were led by remarkable characters
of Igbo slave origins - Oko Jumbo of the Manilla
House and Madu (after him Alali his son) of the
Anna House.
In 1863, Alali died, bequeathing to his house a
frightening debt of between £10,000 and
£15,000 owed to European supercargoes.
Fearing bankruptcy, all of the eligible chiefs of
the house declined nomination to head it. It was
therefore a great relief when Ja Ja accepted to
fill the void. With characteristic energy, he
proceeded to put his house in order by
reorganizing its finances. Conscious that the
palm-oil markets in the hinterland and the
wealth of the European trading community on
the coast constituted the pivot of the Delta
economy, he ingratiated himself with both sides.
In a matter of two years, he had liquidated the
debt left behind by his predecessor and
launched his house on the path of prosperity.
When less prosperous and insolvent houses
sought incorporation into the Anna House, Ja Ja
gradually absorbed one house after another.


For 18 years, Ja Ja ruled his kingdom with
firmness and remarkable sagacity. He
strengthened his relations with the hinterland
palm-oil producers through judicious marriages
and blood covenants which bound the parties
into ritual kingship. He armed his traders with
modern weapons for their own defense and that
of the state. He thus monopolized trade with
the palm-oil producers and punished severely
any community that tried to trade directly with
the European supercargoes.
In 1873, the British recognized him as king of
independent Opobo, and Ja Ja reciprocated by
sending a contingent of his soldiers to help the
British in their war against the Ashanti kingdom
in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Queen Victoria
expressed her gratitude in 1875 by awarding
him a sword of honor. It seemed a honeymoon
had developed between Opobo and Britain.
Ja Ja's reign has been described as a striking
instance of selective modernization. He retained
most of the sociopolitical and cultural
institutions of Bonny, such as the house system,
and stuck steadfastly to the religion of his
fathers, arguing that Christianity was a serious
ferment of societal destabilization. While
recognizing the value of Western education and
literacy, he objected to its religious component.
Thus, he sent his two sons to school in Scotland
but insisted they acquire only secular education.
He established a secular school in Opobo and
employed an African-American, Emma White, to
run it. An Englishman who visited Opobo in 1885
stated that the standard of the pupils in the
school compared quite favorably with that of
English children of the same age.
The honeymoon between Ja Ja and the British
turned out to be meteoric: the ultimate
ambitions of the two ran at cross-purposes. Ja
Ja guarded his independence jealously, had a
tight grip on the interior markets and confined
British traders to Opobo, away from these
markets. He made sure that the traders paid
their comeys (customs and trade duties) as and
when due.

www.takemetonaija.com/2015/07/nigerian-hero-king-jaja-of-opobo-full.html?m=1

Jaja of Opobo
I heard his name first from M.I Abaga

Wow, thank God see person wey don epp people, watin concern me with twins (last post)

King jaja of opobo rest in peace Sir

He really flexed during his time

Someone should brief me on his story
I don forget
I know how Google but I believe a Nairalander will help me

HRM King Jaja!

Rivalling Queen Victoria

#Respect

The white men are the greatest destroyers and creators to have ever existed on planet earth

Read the story in one Macmillan primary 3 or 4 back then. Can't even remember what he did.

Jaja of opobo was great when he came and learnt the ways of Nigerdeltans...Nice one

IntroVAT:
King Jaja of Opobo flung himself down in a lonely mood to think...

It was true he was a Monarch and wore a crown..

The man no smell 20th,21th century life sha...19th century man #Kingin

And so?.