9Pluto: A lot of debates or arguments have been going on mainly between(igbos and ijaws) about the identity of Bonny and Opobo people. So much that lots of indigenes are confused about their own identity. The reason for this is not far fetched. The igbo language is an indigenous language in both places and while most inhabitants bear English names, some bear ijaw names and few still retain their igbo names. A large portion of videos which could be found on YouTube also portrays a largely igbo heritage till date.
However, I will try to be as neutral as possible while I implore you to be a little objective as we embark on this historical fact check. Most of the arguments in my opinion have been nothing more than mere conjectures. For instance, ijaw people claim the igbo language spoken in both places is foreign or creolized version while trying to force inhabitants to start learning an entirely new language different from their mother tongue. There are also claims that igbo language was the language of igbo slaves the ijaws were trading. It is surprising how this eventually became an indigenous language making it the first of such incidence on the Gulf of Guinea. Even Calabar another important slave port nearby didn't experience such.
We have also seen both igbos and ijaws trying to make their own interpretations of what they think must have happened and as such both groups twist words to have meanings according to their respective language. For example: Ndoki-ndoki/aminadokiari Ibani-Ubani//Obani/Igbani/Ebane Ama-Ama Amanyanabo-Ama onye nabo(Ama-anyi-nabo in Ndoki dialect)/Ama-nya-nabo (igbo for he who ties up another, like master tying up slave). It might interest you to know that the title Amanyanabo use by ijaws originated from Bonny. The igbo interpretation means, “The town/community of 2 kings/persons”. Bonny traditionally had 2 kings as documented by Captain Hugh and he was friends with both men who held him in high esteem. King Pepple and King Holiday were both kings that reigned in Bonny at the same time.
To understand the reality of who Bonny and Opobo people are I would be rellying on the Memoirs of Captain Hugh Crow of Liverpool(1765-1829) and I implore any true son of Bonny or Opobo to consult this book or any other one written before it to really find out their identity. If you do not have much time, you can read from chapter 10, however reading the whole book gives a huge insight into slave trade era. It is important to note that while the author confirmed Eboes/igbos as natives of Bonny, there was no mention or acknowledgement of ijaws. But I am using my discretion to assume that the ijaws were the Brass people as the author asserts that they came from the Brass country which is located North West of Bonny.
Impotant dates: Captain Hugh Crow of Liverpool(1765-1829) King Jaja of Opobo 1821-1891 Technically King Jaja was born 12 years after slave trade was abolished. Slave trade was abolished in 1809 by Sir Wilberforce. King Jaja of Opobo founded Opobo in 1870.
Apart from being a popular slave merchant, Captain Crow(a.k.a Play man) was very popular with Kings and Natives of Bonny. He was so popular that he was invited to crown one of the Kings of Bonny at a time and he was regularly invited to help resolve palaver in the kingdom. He was captain of the last ship that left Bonny with slaves after slavery was abolished.
The author's memoir is insightful for many reasons: It rendered a vivid first person account of what trans Atlantic slave trade looks like. In his assertions, slaves taken off the West African coast to America were better off than their countrymen left behind in Africa. During the period in review, whites were also slaves and most Britons including the author became prisoners of the French.
The author asserts that: Bonny people are chiefly a mix of Eboe/Igbo and Brass/ijaw people. He described/mentioned the igbo country in the hinterland and the brass country lying north-west of Bonny. However, most of the details of daily living amongst the natives was more in tune with igbo lifestyle. He talked about igbo native doctors he referred to as dibia and the enormous influence they wield in justice and health administration, even the kings respect them. He also described details of igbo marriage customs and funneral as observed in Bonny. He talked about the use of elephant during the commemoration of King Pepple's father 10 years after the father's death. He mention the value of elephant tusk. Contrary to conjectures that the name Pepple was European's attempt at pronouncing Perekule, the author asserts that Bonny people derived joy in bearing english names as he himself was responsible for crowning a King who he named after an English prince. An incident that excited the populace. He confirms that both King Pepple and King Holiday were igbos. He described in detail the physique, including complexion and character of different tribes eboes, brass, appas, quaws and ottams. No mention of Ijaw in his record.
The author described one Chief Fubara who was an acquaintance of King Pepple. He asserts that Chief Fubara was not an indigene of Bonny but a stranger who migrated from his country during a crisis with a false claim that he was a warrior in his native country.
The author proved that ijaws were not selling igbo slaves as claimed in some quarters. According to him, everyone/every tribe was sold as slave. He described instances where some igbo chiefs set people up with their beautiful young wives and victims eventually pay a fine or become slaves. He explained the reason why more igbo slaves were sold. They were more relatable to Europeans than most other tribes.
Captain Hugh is credited with one of the earliest attempt to create an Eboe/igbo dictionary. The author asserts that Opobo is an Igbo name for male children. He also said that natives are often marked according to their origin and that Bonny natives often have short cupped perpendicular markings on both sides of their temple(this is consistent with the igbo tribal mark).
He confirmed the existence of Cannibalism, that Andoni was considered a dangerous place to venture, the fact that Calabar people eat dog meat,the fact that he planted coconut trees on one of the islands, the influence of Benin empire, that some Brass people were usually employed to make salt during dry season under the Benin empire amongst other things.
I was planning to post pages from his write up to buttress some points, unfortunately i cannot do so on this forum as it seems to permit posting only few images at a time. But i will post some.
CONCLUSION
Bonny people are a mix of Eboe/Igbo and Brass people in origin. This document however asserts a more igbo origin or dominance as most of Crow's history of the ancient kingdom was about igbos(The word Brass appeared 14 times in the history of Bonny, while the word Eboe appeared 48 times). This perhaps explains the existence of the indigenous igbos there and the presence of igbo masquerades like nwaotam. However, Opobo is a more recently founded city state by King Jaja who established his sole ownership authority and set up the kingdom with friends who accompanied him from Bonny. While Ebane/Igbanni/Ubani/Obani is the igbo dialect spoken in these locations. The same dialect that was used to write the first igbo bible commissioned by King Pepple. Shalom
P.S: I am being challenged to prove that Brass people are Ijaw people, so I must state once more that this was an assumption on my part and it remains to be proven or disputed.
Current literatures been submitted seems to indicate that the Brass were indeed a different people from the ijaws as they are known today.
FINALLY A new literature referenced to another European by name Baike(who arrived Bonny about 50 years later than Crow) has just been posted on page 34 of this thread.
Baike EXPLICITLY stated that Bonny people told him they were of igbo descent. They called themselves Ebanne, that is where the name Bonny came from. Other igbos called them Obani/Ubani, while Kalabari(New Calabar) people called them Ibane.
Dear Ladies and gentlemen, when I started this thread I was shocked by the findings I had already made but I am more shocked and bewildered by the supporting literature this thread has provided from various contributors.
Proud sons and daughters of Grand-Bonny and Ancient Kingdom of Opobo, l congratulate you on finding your true Ebane roots of the ancient Ndoki subgroup and connecting with a future away from mere conjectures and fictions. The original Pepples, Madu, Ani, Kamalu, Ashimini, Uranta,Nkemeku, Ogolo, Jaja, Ikeokwuadighm, Oko Jumbo, Alali etc Let real history guide you at all times, away from myths and conjectures.
I hope with this, most people would start giving their children more native names and teach them to speak their language to stem the growing tide of identity crises.
This write up however understands that there are parts of this islands or local government areas today that bears different Identities as presently constituted.
Alas, it is my wish and desire that this write-up would put the various departments of history in our Universities to task concerning this discourse.
U go explain tire ..
Opobo is ijaw.
Go back to Lagos and keep developing Lagos and claiming it n leave Opobo out of ur frustration
AbuTwins: That's another outlook. But if the roads he claims were truly constructed then i don't think Abia needs a Airport than it need roads connecting the markets!
A crime has been committed .
There is no way to say otherwise .
Ikpwazu committed a crime . Let him do the time This is how it should be
vanitybutiwanti: Tinubu is with wike 100%, he's just trying to be careful because he's faced with so many challenges in the country, if there is anybody that can relate with wikes predicament now, its BAT, he had a similar issue in Ambode
Tinubu does not know u people.
Presidency has earned that they will not side Wike Bat owes Wike nothing
TopNotchTrends: The battle for control over rivers state is getting more interesting as Wike loyalists have sang that Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, must obey Wike.
Alusiizizi: Sounds to me like you didn't get into professional coding. Also, from what I understand, Computer Science, as a course in Nigeria, is disgraceful to put it mildly, with the typical CS graduate not knowing even the basics of programming(I don't know how it was in UNILAG though, perhaps your experience was different?)
I never really fancied coding because of it's ever evolutionary nature. However, I actually went into core engineering... Oiland marine operations. CAD design (AutoCAD)and project engineering.
proeast: Pls how can I get her contact? It’s obvious I’m not the only Nigerian they’re doing this. They will check the account statement you submitted, if they find reasonable amount in it, they will begin their extortion racketeering.
Some people are already volunteering here in Vietnam to take up the case.
We v more indians in Nigeria than we have Nigerians in India.
We have over 3million Indians in Nigeria doing good jobs and taking higher salaries than Nigerians . How many Nigerians are working in corporate offices and companies in India?
Alusiizizi: I hope you are aware that the so-called A.I. bubble is burst. Most of the ridiculous claims about the capability of A.I., specifically the Large Language Models like ChatGPT, that those C.E.Os claimed turned out to be just that, ridiculous.
New advice to prospective tech professionals and developers: Learn as much coding as possible, in fact, instead of going for very high level languages like JavaScript, PHP and such that limits your capability to web-dev, go for lower level languages that stress control and understanding of fundamental concepts of data and structures like C++. If you can master C++ then anything that comes along the way would be a cakewalk. I once claimed on this forum that it took me only 6 hours or so to learn JavaScript and every single response that I get was to dismiss me as a liar. The reason why they didn't believe that anyone could learn such a "difficult" language so quickly is because most of them have no experience with C/C++ and so are not aware of the power that its knowledge gives to a developer.
I did c++ as a course in my undergrad level for three years from year two to year four.
Then in my year five ,it became an option but I didn't bother taking the course .
muyico: demo wot?? wike lead him in!! wike is river dictatorship now! he gat all power to stall who pleased him! who want defeat him over there? except God! no man can stop wike from removing him!
Chigozie321: I support Fubara 100% in this fight but let us be honest, that guy has not been impressive since he became a governor.
Detractors no longer have access to the state Treasury so I expect projects to be buzzing left, right and center. But NO, no significant development till date.
Lets hope he starts delivering when this fight is over.
Kukutente23: It is a testament to Wike's lack of political sagacity and his belief in the rule of might over the rule of law that he made such an unforced error. How lucky Fubara is!! Just imagine if Wike had been calm and strategic enough to not make that blunder of defection. Probably, SIM will be out of the seat by now. Wike forgot that Tinubu owes him nothing and can't fight his personal war for him using the presidency. The highest you can get is having the instrument of coercion on your side and that is proving to not be enough now.
You have said it all.
What did fubara do that warrant impeaching him under five months if not psychopath on Wike side. Gra gra to show might .. forgetting he is just an ordinary man
alanto: You bought a judgement in Rivers the peraon you are fighting with is the minister or Governor of Abuja and he is a friend of the judiciary he will buy his own court judgement, just pray it never get to a supreme court in Abuja where a permanent judgement will be made.
In a situation like this people are not going to tell you that you have a limitation, rather they'll tell you that you own the world.
Wike I don't like for his too much wahala but the stage of this Rivers political fight is not a stage to celebrate
Politics › Re: The True Identity Of Bonny/Opobo(UBANI) People Facts Versus Fiction by peleson1: 9:14pm On May 17, 2024
