I fault this assertion of yours Jaja never forsook his iboness let us get that into perspective. Go to Opobo today and hear an Opobo man speak clearly as an Ogidi man i would understand what he is saying clearly. Opobo is igbo and Jaja's descendants are igbo. The real issue is the post civil war politics that was designed to limit the igbo politically and confine them to that central area of the old eastern region that stretches from Onitsha to Aba and Encompasses. Abakaliki, Ebonyi and Co
The language of the Opobo people is Ibani. That's not to say that they don't speak Igbo.
I'm from the Ijaw speaking part of Ogoloma in Rivers state . And in my community, owing to the penchant of our men in time past in getting married to Igbo women, over time we lost our dialect in preference for Igbo. Does that make us Igbo people?
King Jaja was not the sole founder of Opobo kingdom. He migrated alongside with other people. He was only elected to head over them as king because he was wealthy. And mind you, the language of the Opobo and Bonny people is Ibani. The fact that some Opobo people speak Igbo doesn't mean it is their dialect.
Jaja founded Opobo when he moved from Ubani, Igboland to another Igboland called Opobo. He wasn't brought up in Opobo, but he later founded it. Stop trying further to twist history. We are everywhere to keep correcting all you nigeria terrorists and land grabbers.
It was the Anna Pepple house that had fought with Oko Jumbo's Manilla house that Jaja moved to Opobo both were and still are Ijaw houses
That is why both Bonny and Opobo are stil Ijaw today
First, Opobo was derived from Opubo (Jaja's Master who was the perekule and Natural ruler of Ibani (Bonny) Hence Opubo-Ama was called Opobo by the europeans.
In Ibani Kingdoms we have a culture that allows even free slaves to grow unlike the igbo culture where they practice Osu. Opobo was formed by the supporters of Anna Pepple group of house and their allies after the lost the bonny civil war to the rival manilla pepple group.
They moved eastward and established Opubo which was named after their master in bonny.
Jaja is now used as a group name. It is just one section of the 14 sections in Opobo. others are Cookey, kalamuso, fubara, ogbulu,Kieprima, tolofari, Dappa, Biriye, iruoanya etc. The truth is that there is a signicant number of igbo settlers in Opobo, even the ibibios and ogonis are not left out. the retained the ibani-ijaw heritage and culture. that is why we dont have Eze but Amanyanagbo, Nze but Wari senibo and Amaopu senibo. But every other person have been encultured in iguana, the ibani deity. The also become ijaws by enculturation. Yes, in most writeups Jaja is often recognized as the owner of the town but in reality he was just a leader of the break away group from bonny.
Cut the story short my friend, as long as opobo is concerned Jaja is the founder and King nothing more
And correction OSU is not slavery, igbos had slaves too and igbos treated their slaves like none slaves, igbo slaves were allowed to have properties and their own slaves
Ychick: Please listen to the Amayanabo of Opobo talk about his kingdom and if they are Ijaws or not. So of course, nobody is denying the Ibo admixture, but in Ijaw society they are ijaws.
I have watched the video..HE IS just playing politics to remain politically relevant in the Hausa-Fulani led government of Nigeria.. Do you know Many Igbo people influenced Bonny and Opobo from not joining Bayelsa in Ijaw state? According to written History,the King's and People of Bonny and Opobo are all Igbos.. Everything changed after the War..You can't rewrite History.. Truth must prevail..An Ndoki man understands Opobo and Bonny man but an Ijaw man would hardly understand..The Ibani Kalabari Language is not the Language spoken in Bonny Island.. Bonny and Opobo are ancestrally Igbo..Is there any History more illuminating than this?
He tried to resist the imperial/colonial high handedness and the pilfering natives resources to enrich and develop European industries at the start of the industrial age.
He had nonopoly/controlled of the Palm Oil market which the colonialist detested particularly the Royal Nigerian Company a British chartered company.
He was said to be one of the richest African of that Era and an astute businessman which the imperialist found baffling.
He was also one of the earliest African who saw through the heart of the wicked white man...so he resisted them and they didn't like "him".
He was indeed a great man.
I don't know why history is not thought in Nigerian school.
How do we discover ourself when we don't know where we are coming from...
Himself and Oba Ovonramwen. They did see through the whitemen's lies
dared0637: Jaja, the Igbo man that gave the minority Ijaw savages their only known piece of historical significance, and what we get in return from the sewage rats who are immigrants from Ghana is nothing short of ingratitude.
He tried to resist the imperial/colonial high handedness and the pilfering natives resources to enrich and develop European industries at the start of the industrial age.
He had nonopoly/controlled of the Palm Oil market which the colonialist detested particularly the Royal Nigerian Company a British chartered company.
He was said to be one of the richest African of that Era and an astute businessman which the imperialist found baffling.
He was also one of the earliest African who saw through the heart of the wicked white man...so he resisted them and they didn't like "him".
He was indeed a great man.
I don't know why history is not thought in Nigerian school.
How do we discover ourself when we don't know where we are coming from...
The FG of Nigeria is Deliberately Silent on this Historical Studies to Hide d Truth of Our Ancestry and Growth Potentials...to Our hurt.
Ychick: Please if you don’t understand the culture of the Ijaw city states of the eastern delta. It is important you ask. Under the acculturation system of the ijaw city states of the eastern delta. There are 2 ways to become a citizen. 1. By birth 2. By adoption where a head money is paid. (siwi igbi). The literal meaning of Jaja’s full name Jugbo Jugbo fem is somebody bought somebody else. So of course he is of Igbo descent and he was bought by Anna people and became his child by adoption. In ijaw society nobody is a slave, he was raised as a child with full rights of the Anna people house that allows him to even replace his father as chief.
Now on the issue of Amachree, I am a direct descendant of Amachree (8th great great grand father), and King Abbi (5th great grand father) any of my brothers can become Amayanabo of Kalabari (New Calabar) if they contest and win. Amachree’s mother was a Kalabari woman from the original Kalagbea ward. But his father was a freshwater Ijaw man from the central delta. He is not of Igbo origin, although he bought a lot of ibo people from the interior to expand the Kalabari population, and reinforced the idea that all Kalabari people are his people. There is a saying that King Amachree o e da fe a or inyingi fem- meaning if he did not buy your father, he bought your mother. Now on Bonny, they migrated from the central delta- fresh water ijaw land, and stayed for a while in ndokki, where the group split into 2, and some went to Bonny which the new indigenes called Okoloba. In Bonny, with the rise of the palm oil trade and the large number of slaves from the ibo interior. Bonny made a different decision than the kalabari’s by making ibani ijaw a secret language for the elites, so that their numerous slaves will not overthrow them. So ibo became the trade language. This decision means that someone like Jaja who was the foster child of a big chief spoke fluent ibani because he was an elite, and I have read diaries of the British consul trying to settle the fight between opobo and bonny chiefs, with Kalabari and Okrika chiefs as mediators for both groups. All the chiefs from the 4 kingdoms were speaking ijaw because the eastern jaw dialect of kalabari, Okrika, bonny and opobo are mutually intelligible. Now, in new calabar all new adoptees, we don't call them slaves, had to learn the kalabari language, and in fact your ability to speak kalabari determined how fast you could integrate into your new society, that is why in kalabari land. Ibo never gained a foothold like in bonny and the subsequent state of opobo did. So of course we too had lots of people from the ibo interior acculturated into our societies. But, you are an ijaw person, not a slave and you are accorded full rights of a full citizen. So the whole calling Jaja a slave is a joke gone too far. He was the pampered and privileged child of a wealthy chief.
Eastlink: You’re right. New Calabar is Kalabari which was led by Amakiri (Amachree) another King with Igbo origin. Pepple, the King of Bonny got his name from Pepper. Pepper in a British journal I read online explained his Igbo origin as well as that of his People to a Journalist.
The aim of this evidence to to burst the lies that Pepple went by the fraudulent Ijaw name Perekule. Bonny indigenes were the first Nigerians to live as citizens in England. King Pepple was even brought up in England was given princely respect by the whites.
Ijaw people have deceived the entire Nigerians for decades. How did they manage to make over 100m people believe that Anna Pepple was Ijaw. Chai, ignorance is a disease
The British colonialists have been replaced with native colonialists. Our leaders are the new colonial masters.
Most people think that colonialism has ended and that Britain no longer control their former colonies. But Britain is still a major part of our problem via the elites who they've created as conduits to keep enslaving us. These conduits are mostly those born around the 1940's, meaning that they were in their 20's when colonialism officially ended. But problem is that they grew up with that colonial mentality, which is why if you go to Obasanjo's house, the only pictures he deems fit to hang on his wall are those he took with white people.
Once these old generation Africans pass away, we may be able to enter into a new age in African political structure. However, Britain is already countering that in advance by making sure they train the next generation Africans. This is the real reason for all the so called partnership in education and scholarship schemes you hear about. They recently held a conference on education in London and it's all about creating future leaders in their former colonies who won't be an obstacle like Jaja of Opobo. So Britain is still covertly in charge.
Brother, you made a lot sense in this reply. I am aware the Brits always try to pull the strings in their former colonies either through groomed influencers or media narrative (BBC comes to mind)
But then I have looked at this dude’s background: Desmond Elliot -a Law maker in Lagos, young man, not in the age bracket of those born with colonial mentality. We all think with these youths in power, governance would change. We are wrong!
A few of his accomplishments has been that infamous toilet he built and nothing more!
Probably, we may never find good governance in this free-for-all democracy we practice.
No need to go into deep explanation like these, you owe no one any explanation for the Ibani identity, Igbo as a group is an acculturation of various smaller groups like Ibibio, Igala etc, the only uniting factor is the language, stop wearing pig gold, these ipob people don't relate with logic, the whole claim is just the hope of access to sea
That’s how one of you came out and said ijaw is the 3rd largest ethnic group in Nigeria, now you’re coming up with this? I need to really know what you people feed on in ijawland
When a slave is bought those days, everything about his identity changes. Slave could be akin to chattel. Quite well Jaja is of Igbo origin, but was a chattel to the king of Bonny.
So that in it self, remove every tinge of his igboness. Beside, he wasn't the only founder of present day Opobo. They went as a horde to locate the land Opobo. But he was fortunate enough to be made a king. Probably because he was the most wealthiest amongst the hordes.
Those days and even at present amongst the ijaws, kingship is reserved for people who have the financial war chest.
Even to be war canoe chief in Okrika, you have to be wealthy enough to have a standard storey building and must be a man of means. The ijaws do not make paupers kings and chief.
The Buyer Anna Pepple is also Igbo. My dear, your 51 year old lie have come to an end. Both the one of Ubani and Kalabari
dared0637: Jaja, the Igbo man that gave the minority Ijaw savages their only known piece of historical significance, and what we get in return from the sewage rats who are immigrants from Ghana is nothing short of ingratitude.
Jaja had no business with Ijaw. The Ijaw stuff about Ubani started after the war. Both Jaja, his seller and buyer Anna Pepple are all Ndigbo. Ijaw people are riding on the ignorance of most Ndigbo about history. Nothing concern them with Jaja and the buyer
I have watched the video..HE IS just playing politics to remain politically relevant in the Hausa-Fulani led government of Nigeria.. Do you know Many Igbo people influenced Bonny and Opobo from not joining Bayelsa in Ijaw state? According to written History,the King's and People of Bonny and Opobo are all Igbos.. Everything changed after the War..You can't rewrite History.. Truth must prevail..An Ndoki man understands Opobo and Bonny man but an Ijaw man would hardly understand..The Ibani Kalabari Language is not the Language spoken in Bonny Island.. Bonny and Opobo are ancestrally Igbo..Is there any History more illuminating than this?
Ijaws were able to rewrite the History of Bonny And Opobo thanks to Hausa-Fulani led government who are trying to limit Igbos to Owerri and Aba.. No history of those towns point to Ijaw Origin.. Can't Ijaw people read history? Do they think we shall fold our arms and allow them go with both cities if Nigeria is to divide along Ethnic lines? Wake up Ijaw! Those fabricated History will later find its way to the gutters
Papparassi: The first educated international businessman from Nigeria. He was exporting Palm Oil from Opobo directly to Liverpool in England. He was billionaire ..
SportsHD: Wow. Why was he exiled in the first place?
Modified- screw the white power. Just like how america and Britain abandoned Afghanistan after they've justified spending "war budget" and obviously, made x10 profits from their initial "investment" in afghan.
Just like how the Royal niger company destabilized the giant of Africa after sucking it dry and,and still sucking it. They also brought two politicians who hate eachother (lord lugard and lord I've forgotten his name) to rule over the south and northern protectorate of Nigeria. It was all about politics and what they stand to gain in the name of the queen. This also goes to our kinsmen that we're backstabbers, sellouts, ffuck them in their graves. Everyone just keeps taking and taking from Africa. Down to all our military rulers, yakubu Gowon and the cement armada, 47$million dollars in gains, that's in the 70's. That's one of the numerous white whale projects. Down to the civilian rule. The shit hole keeps getting shiitier. I've successfully derailed the thread so, welcome to Alcatraz!
How you manage to type this long epistle as the first commentator amazes us
The FG of Nigeria is Deliberately Silent on this Historical Studies to Hide d Truth of Our Ancestry and Growth Potentials...to Our hurt.
Not that but because it will also expose alot of people. Especially the ones claiming Ubani, Opobo and Kalabari but can't give reasonable explanation as to why the natives are speaking Igbo and also why they (Ijaw) share nothing with any of their neighbours.
THE GREATEST ERROR IS TO CLAIM TO KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. AM NOT ONLY FROM OPOBO AM FROM ANNIE PEPPLES HOUSE
His name is George Oruigbiji. He was brought up in England and was given the nickname King Pepper because of his trade in pepper which was sweetened to Pepple by the locals. Your 51 years of lies have come to an end
