₦airaland Forum

jflower06:
Can you give me any evidence that he is from Iragbiji.

His family's compound name
The name if any of his uncles
Name of any living family member

You just described a mysterious man

Say what?
You don't mean it?
Anyway, Jaja of Opobo, whose full name was Jubo Jubogha, was an Ijaw man. He was a prominent leader and merchant in an area known as southeastern Nigeria. Jaja established the kingdom of Opobo in the late 19th century and became an influential figure in trade, particularly palm oil, which was an important commodity at the time. His rise to power and influence in the region is a significant part of Ijaw history.

Nteogwuija:
Those people were born foolish. Even with this map, they'll tell u that Opobo is not there. How u want take explain Ibani to them?

Ubani sir

Konquest:
For those who don't know and are NOT historically conversant of archival materials, as of 1870 when Jaja and his group fled the 1869 Civil War in Bonny, what you call Opobo today was ORIGINALLY Ibibioland NOT Ijawland. It was the White British trader friends of Jaja who saved him from extermination when the better armed war expedition of Bonny Island came for him where he fled to, otherwise Jaja and his group from the Anna Pepple house who fled from Bonny in 1870 would have been wiped out completely. Opobo (which is originally part of Ikot Abasi) was given out on lease by the Ibibios for Jaja and his group to stay with his group who fled from Bonny.

The current Opobo was later carved out right into Rivers State in the 1970s [The South Eastern State which was created by General Yakubu Gowon on May 27, 1967, was renamed Cross River State in 1976. Then the merger of Opobo to Rivers State was fully done in the year 1976 from Cross River State while the larger part of Opobo (Ikot Abasi) remained as part of the larger Ibibioland] otherwise Opobo in Rivers State would have been located in Akwa Ibom State today. Opobo indeed is an ancestral hybrid OR mix of people of Ijaw, Ibibio, and Ndoki bloodlines. Jaja was originally a slave (who later underwent the Ijaw initiation ceremony or rites to transform into an Ijaw after he was set free in Bonny) but in reality he is ancestrally of Ibo roots. Jaja was actually a very ruthless and wicked man who prevented other upland tribes and more (the Ngwas, Annangs, Ibibios, etc) from trading directly with the British traders down the river routes and this led to the Ikot Udo Obong War with the Annangs who resisted him. He had a lot of people from other tribes publicly beheaded in bloody circumstances and this is one of the reasons why the British colonialists removed and deported him in 1887 because he was just a middle man Chief who wanted to dominate the trading activities to the EXCLUSION of other tribes along the Opobo (Imo) River. He died in 1891, 21 years after first fleeing to Opobo (Ikot Abasi) in Ibibioland.

So, Opobo was known originally a part of IKOT ABASI as of 1870. Jaja was originally from the Umuduruoha clan in Amaigbo, in modern-day Imo State but was SOLD into slavery (I watched a serialized Maxwell Enemuo documentary years back where some folks claimed it was Jaja's slave trader father who sold him into slavery based on some likely Ibo abominations) and was brought to Bonny in Ijawland to be sold off to the infamous White slave traders right in Bonny. The Aros and their confederacy gangs such as the Abam and Ohafia who followed them on several slaves raids in the Ibo interior brought these Ibo captives to be SOLD to the Ijaws of the coast at Bonny who then acted as middle men and sold these people from the mid-1700s to the 1800s to the American, British and Jewish slave traders. Also, the place called Arochukwu of today is itself originally Ibibioland (with an original Ibibio name) BUT as a result of a series of wars that occurred between 1690 and 1720, the Ibibios lost full grip, BUT you will still see very strong vestiges of Ibibio religion, cultural traditions, Ekpe society, language, style of dressing, cuisines and more on the people of Aro till today. Some family lineages in Aro also have direct Ibibio ancestry and Ibibio names.


I hope that helps.


Read the iconic book: "History of Nigeria" by Sir. Allan Burns, who was the Governor-General of Nigeria and the Gold Coast (Ghana) to read more advanced information about the Ibibio origins of Opobo (IKOT ABASI) as of 1870 and Jaja's greed and wickedness to his fellow men because he wanted to monopolize the middle man trade to the exclusion of other tribes in the words of Sir Allan Burns.

You are 1000% correct.........I am from Nnewi South in Anamba state.. my father was born in Opobo in 1935 and he only left for my village when he turned 15 years old!
When I spoke to him about the years long argument on Nairaland about the origins of the people of Opobo.....that l felt they where Igbos..........He laughed and said the true owners of Opobo are Ibibios... I was flabberwhelmed and overgasted! He said Everyone else there is a settler but that Igbol and especially Igbo language is the dominant culture! Case closed ............Opobo is essentially a Cultural Metropolis........Ijaws should allow the place to develop organically.....this fixation to squeeze out every culture that is not Ijaw is not a good thing in my humble opinion!

Wike is the best minister of the FCT we ever had.

Eboofa:
You are 1000% correct.........I am from Nnewi South in Anamba state.. my father was born in Opobo in 1935 and he only left for my village when he turned 15 years old!

When I spoke to him about the years long argument on Nairaland about the origins of the people of Opobo.....that l felt they where Igbos..........He laughed and said the true owners of Opobo are Ibibios... I was flabberwhelmed and overgasted! He said Everyone else there is a settler but that Igbol and especially Igbo language is the dominant culture! Case closed ............Opobo is essentially a Cultural Metropolis........Ijaws should allow the place to develop organically.....this fixation to squeeze out every culture that is not Ijaw is not a good thing in my humble opinion!

@Eboofa

I'm glad that I followed my gut instincts to make my advanced historical contributions from the archives on this thread. I didn't want to post any comments on this thread originally.

I appreciate your awesome feedback here which affirms my ORIGINAL post. Your nonagenarian father is indeed a very noble man and a true elder of Nnewi South descent despite being born in Opobo in 1935. I respect him for giving you the specifics of the Ibibio ethnic origins of Opobo and affirming that everybody (Ijaws, Ndoki, etc) there is just a migrant settler on a land that originally belongs to the Ibibios. This is how things should be, setting the records straight for the impressionable younger generation so that we all can have inner peace!

EXCEPT the Ibibios decide that they DON'T want the Opobo land again, which they originally leased to the Ijawnized Jaja and his ethnically mixed group (who fled for their lives from Bonny Island in 1870, and arrived in Ikot Abasi in Ibibioland), then the Ijaws may be at liberty to claim full ownership of Opobo Island since it is now part of Rivers State and was only carved out from the rest of Ibibioland in a 1976 boundary adjustment from the Old Cross River State.

However, like you stated in agreement with my original post, Opobo is a hybrid of ethnic migrant settlers with Ibo language being widely understood and this is what the "Opobo belongs to only Ibos" pro-Ibo irredendists such as the guy at NnaaMen TV and the larger Ijaw militant organizations have to understand. Jubo Jubogha [known to the Europeans as Ja-ja] himself was made to undergo the MANDATORY Ijaw initiation ceremony or rites making him into a naturalized Ijaw in Bonny after he was freed as a slave, so, I can understand the Ijaw fixation with Opobo. Jaja also fled to Opobo (originally located in Ibibioland) from Bonny in 1870 with an ethnically mixed group of followers, so, the descendants of those who make up Opobo today are a hybrid mix of ethnicities.

History has to be set straight and it's totally dishonest that these highly uninformed younger generation of online posters go about posting deliberately FORGED information and propaganda to twist the historical narrative, unknown to them, the TRUE history of that area called Opobo (originally part of the larger Ibibio port community of Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State) is well-documented in the historical archives by the British Colonialists since the 1800s!


The video right BELOW shows the Amanyanabo of Opobo talk about his "kingdom" and if they are Ijaws or not despite some of the largely Ibo and Ibibio admixtures.

Amanyanabo of Opobo, King Jaja full unedited interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCPKHyhdYD8


I appreciate your insights here again.

Enjoy your day.

Ciao.

Burob:
Yet the Mumu Fubara that u are all supporting was singlehandedly picked by Nyesom Wike without any input from u & them.

Have u checked your own head, Charity they say begins @ home.

Wetin make Fubara Mumu?

Ngozi123:
King Jaja founded the Opobo city-state and made that place a major trade centre for palm oil. Please put some respect on his name.

What has that got to do with anything.


Under whose umbrella?
Ibani ijaws umbrella

heniford2:
girl or boy or wat ever u are am not in Nigeria to start with so if ur feel am hungry then ur on another level crazy

Of course you can still be hungry wherever you are.

Whoever Wike was talking about.

Bobloco:
And who is this "imposter"

President Tinubu became my business because you pulled him into what he has no business in. Wike and his brothers are overgrown adults, you should hold them responsible.

It doesn't have to be here, you can show me anywhere they defended him, abi why won't the concerned people defend their own from such claim?

Agbegbaorogboye:
And how is President Tinubu your business if I may ask?
So you expect the people of Opobo to come into the open and trade words with Wike over their tribal identity? Are you really serious?

Truthcat:
President Tinubu became my business because you pulled him into what he has no business in. Wike and his brothers are overgrown adults, you should hold them responsible.

It doesn't have to be here, you can show me anywhere they defended him, abi why won't the concerned people defend their own from such claim?

You did not show how you're concerned about Tinubu yet you're so quick to explain how others are concerned
You're irrational

Ode!

Agbegbaorogboye:
You did not show how you're concerned about Tinubu yet you're so quick to explain how others are concerned
You're irrational

Truthcat:
Ode!

Mumu

Burob:
Yet the Mumu Fubara that u are all supporting was singlehandedly picked by Nyesom Wike without any input from u & them.

Have u checked your own head, Charity they say begins @ home.

And the foolish Wike was singlehandedly and protected from opposition to beco8the governor of River state by Good luck Jonathan and his wife.

Some of u who are supporting wike Broadday madness thinks, he is very smart and bold

Ngozi123:
Please leave the Ijaw alone. We don't want to be associated with them.

Wrong and outdated mindset.

We have all these people all around and we dont really know who they are and what they did.


Like, did u know y the Efik crossed over int their present location of Akwa Ibom?

Do u know what really happend in Arochukwu and how the igbo being held revolted and overran it?

So much history about our people and so much they have endured and gone through but little education.

We need to know everybody around us and exactly who they are and what they are doing in our vicinity.

Enough is enough of all this people just showing up, acting bad and being hostile, claiming igbo domination, whilst wen the opportunity present itself happily commit crimes against us on igbo soil.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-I0wO5m0Ok

Oponu!

Agbegbaorogboye:
Mumu

Truthcat:
Oponu!

Okpo

Omugo.

Agbegbaorogboye:
Okpo

Truthcat:
Omugo.

Okpe

Splashme:
So, the famous King Jaja of Opobo
was not Ijaw?

That is laughable. Wike talks
before he thinks
.

and who told you king jaja was ijaw

Obo!

Agbegbaorogboye:
Okpo