From Slave Boy To King: The Exciting Rise and Tragic Fall of Jaja, King of Opobo
On the morning of Friday 22nd January 1887 when King Jaja the Amanyanabo of Opobo set off for his meeting with Henry Hamilton Johnston the British Consul, he must have had no suspicion that this would be the last time he would ever see his beloved country again.
He was as intimately familiar with the British as any West African at the time was. For the last 40 years he had interacted with them in different capacities first as a page boy on his master’s boat, then as overseer of his own fleet of boats, trading directly with them on behalf of his house and later as head of the Anna Pepple House and then finally as King of Opobo, a merchant city-state in the Niger Delta which he had founded.
So when the consul gave Jaja his assurances that he was safe on his boat and that the meeting was purely for business negotiations, what reason did he have to doubt this and take precautions?
Jaja’s story is as fascinating as it was mysterious and consequential for the territories of the Niger Delta and their eventual folding into the British Colony of Southern Nigeria.
No one knows his original name, only that he mentioned that his father’s name was Ozurumba.
The Early Life Of Jaja
He would have been 12 years old when he was captured by Aro Slave traders from his homeland in Amaigbo, today part of Imo State in South Eastern Nigeria. He probably passed into the hands of different owners before ending up as a slave in Bonny where he was renamed Jubo Jubogha. At some point, he was given as a gift to Chief Alali the leader of Anna Pepple House a powerful trading house in the Kingdom.
At this point, its important to explain slavery in 15th — 19th Century Lower Niger (Pre-colonial Nigeria)
Tribes and ethnic groups had been capturing and enslaving each other during wars and raids for centuries. This slavery however looked nothing like Transatlantic slavery which came much later and was different in a couple of ways;
- In most cases, the status of “slave” did not pass from generation to generation. The children of the original enslaved person did not automatically become slaves.
- Enslaved people were able to work themselves out of slavery, in a system very similar to indentured servitude
- The concept of being owned by your master was not as extensive as in the Transatlantic slave trade.
- Slaves were generally not dehumanised and were just people in unfortunate situations.
Bonny in the 1700s was quite literally a whole different world and young Jaja would be coming to the city at a time when the foundation was being laid for great upheaval. As a major hub in the transatlantic slave trade, it enriched itself by acting as a middleman between European powers and enslaved Africans brought from the interior.
However, by the early 1800s, it was becoming clear that the slave trade would soon be abolished. The British were also beginning to demand a different product, palm oil, which could only be got in greater quantities in the hinterlands which the Europeans could not explore by themselves due to factors like the difficult security situation in the Niger Delta at the time, their lack of local networks and connections, as well as their concerns about malaria.
The political class in Bonny was divided into “Houses”. It is difficult to describe what a House is today but a simple way to understand how Houses in Bonny worked is if a powerful family started a political party and controlled all the powerful positions within the party. Oh, this political party also operated as a commercial entity engaging in trading and other business activities.
Each House relied on a network of supporters to exert influence throughout Bonny society. The most powerful Houses, with extensive networks and resources, could exert greater control and influence. They might leverage their position to gain the allegiance of smaller Houses, though the nature of this relationship could vary. Alliances and power dynamics were constantly in flux as Houses were constantly dissolving and merging with other Houses.
Most historical sources indicate that there were around eighteen major chieftaincy houses in Bonny, some of which are;
- Opubo Anna Pepple House
- Fubara Manilla Pepple House
- Attoni House (from Finima)
- Brown House (from Finima)
- Tobin House (from Finima)
The Pepple Split
The Anna Pepples and the Manilla Pepples were the royal houses and used to be one house until they split.
While the direct causes for the split are unclear, we do know that both houses descended from King Perekule Pepple, who ruled Bonny sometime before 1754. As a means to increase his power and possibly to reduce the chances of a succession crisis, King Perekule had set up separate houses for each of his sons.
When he died, he was succeeded by his second son Fubara Manilla Pepple who was head of his cadet branch of the Perekule Dynasty known as the Fubara Manilla Pepple House. While he was king, he left stewardship of his own house in the hands of an ex-slave Ibanibufuria who used the King’s patronage to increase the wealth and prestige of the Fubara Manilla Pepples, establishing a virtual monopoly over the immensely profitable slave trade, he also founded other satellite houses whose main purpose was to serve the Manilla Pepples.
By the time King Fubara Manilla Pepple died in 1792, Manilla Pepple House was the largest and most successful of these cadet branches of the wider Perekule Pepple dynasty.
He was succeeded by his younger brother Opubo Anna Pepple who continued the policies of his brother and father before him, bolstering his own house and creating satellite houses to serve his own main house. As you can probably imagine, this was breeding deep resentment in Bonny which would have led to a civil war between the Manilla Pepples and the Anna Pepples backed by their satellite branches. War was averted only by a declaration of war by the Andoni people. Civil war had been averted, but only temporarily, the deep resentments remained and would only build up as subsequent kings were chosen either from the Manilla Pepple House or the Anna Pepple House.
This is the world Jaja entered when he was sent to Bonny as a slave. By this point, the kingship was in the hands of the Manilla Pepples.
Lucky for him, he was not sent further to North America, instead he was absorbed into Anna Pepple House where he started from the bottom rungs as a “Boy”. This is one of the people who paddled the Canoes transporting palm oil from the hinterlands for sale to the European Merchants on the coast.
Rise to power in Bonny
Due to his unique qualities, like being hardworking, with a keen sense of how to negotiate good deals and possibly his ability to speak Igbo, the language of the palm oil farmers and traders in the hinterlands, Jubo grew fast through the ranks in the House, from Boy to War Canoe captain and eventually to being allowed to run his mini operation within Anna Pepple House, where he was allowed to command his small fleet of War Canoes to the hinterland, source palm oil and sell to British traders, they couldn’t pronounce his name properly so they gave him the “trade name” Ja-ja.
He would then give a share of his profits to his chief. He also made a lot of money from the dash*, which was a customary tip given by the merchants to the local traders (from the Portuguese das: you give).
*Fun fact, this is the origin of the Nigerian slang “Dash” which is a term for an unconditional gift given to someone on a non-special occasion, still widely in use today.
He so impressed Chief Alali that the Old Chief started taking Jaja along with him to the pre-trading season negotiations between the Chiefs, the King and the British. Jaja would have been quietly observant of the proceedings, making mental notes of the complex power dynamics in the City.
By this point, the rivalry between the Anna Pepples and the Manilla Pepples had turned into open hatred with occasional clashes on the streets of Bonny. Chief Oko Jumbo who led the Manilla Pepples and Chief Alali both descendants of Igbo slaves also harboured a burning personal hatred for each other which didn’t help matters. It was clear, civil war was again on the horizon. And because the King was a member of Manilla Pepple House, he was not considered a neutral arbiter of the issues.
Chief of Anna Pepple House
Sometime in the 1860’s, Chief Alali died and it was revealed that Anna Pepple House was in severe debt to the British traders who would usually offer lines of credit to Houses before the beginning of the trading season. Some sources indicate that he was owing as much as £15,000, estimated to be £1,974,660.44 today. In those days, Houses were not Limited Liability Companies, the House’s debt, was the Chief’s debt, so Chief Alali’s sons and brothers balked at the responsibility.
So Jaja, the former slave stepped up and agreed to take on the debt, he was now Chief Jack Anna Pepple, Chief of Anna Pepple house and leader of the 2nd most powerful political bloc in Bonny.
In an act of remarkable flexibility, Chief Oko Jumbo simply transferred his hatred of Chief Alali to Jaja the new Chief.
Jaja did not waste time, he went to work to right the figurative canoe of Anna Pepple House which had been decimated by the recent run of bad luck they had experienced.
To quote Andy Obuoforibo, Chief of Minapakabo War Canoe House in Okochiri Kingdom, another Ijaw kingdom in the Niger Delta
“Jaja realised that Alali’s 2 major failures were poor revenue collection from house members and poor negotiation of deals with the hinterland. It seems that he just had better skills and charisma. He got the Igbo planters to give him better prices.
He borrowed a bit more to fund the House’s trade but watched the House traders like a hawk. Within 2 years, he repaid the British and put Anna Pepple back in the black”
We can see that the years of Jaja’s training in business and Bonny’s politics had paid off in a big way. Having entered Bonny as an outsider, he was not beholden to the established ways of doing things. This outsider status was like having a clean slate, allowing him to approach challenges with creativity and a willingness to break from tradition.
It also seems that since Jaja was of Igbo origin himself, he may have been able to develop the kind of relationship with the Igbo planters that the other Houses simply couldn’t.
Historical sources indicate that Jaja first negotiated debt restructuring with his British creditors, then went to work renegotiating the terms of trade with the palm tree planters in Igboland, and then finally instituting stricter collection rules for Anna Pepple House traders. There’s also some indication that he cut out as many middlemen as he could, strengthening the links between Anna Pepple House and their suppliers and neighbours along the trade routes.
Under Jaja’s guidance, Anna Pepple House flourished. Smaller houses, sensing a rising tide, flocked to Jaja, seeking alliances and mergers. This strategic manoeuvring significantly amplified Anna Pepple House’s economic and political clout. However, their newfound ascendancy only served to fan the flames of mistrust and enmity with the Manilla Pepples, who remained entrenched on the throne.
Civil war in Bonny
In 1865, King William died triggering violence in the streets when rumours began to spread that Jaja, a foreign-born ex-slave wanted to be King. Instead, George, son of the previous king was crowned, keeping the throne with the Manilla Pepples who were still led by Chief Oko Jumbo who many considered to be the real power behind the throne.
In 1868, during another period of unrest in Bonny, a massive fire broke out, disproportionately affecting the Anna Pepple side of town. They lost buildings, personnel, foodstuff and most importantly weapons, leaving them vulnerable to attack, so Jaja pressed for peace, Oko Jumbo on the other hand sensing his advantage pushed for war. The long-avoided civil war of Bonny had finally broken out between the Manilla Pepples and Anna Pepples, both houses backed by their supporters.
It is at this point that Jaja and his supporters fled Bonny while suing for peace talks. Initially, Chief Oko Jumbo must have felt victorious, the Manilla Pepples had finally established sole dominance over Bonny and run their long-time rivals out of town. However, when the dust had settled, it became clear that they had been outmanoeuvred by Jaja. Anna Pepple House along with 14 of the 18 Houses in Bonny had moved to land among the Andoni people, the old rivals of Bonny. This land was right at the point where the Bonny River meets the Imo River, effectively cutting Bonny off from trade with the Igbos.
Formation of Opobo and ascension to the throne
Oko Jumbo sent wave after wave of attack trying to dislodge the Anna Pepples from their new land, but they were all unsuccessful. Jaja’s men fought bravely with great support from the Andoni people. It was too late. They named their new kingdom Opobo after Opubo The Great, the founder of Annie Pepple House and Jaja was declared Amanyanabo, King, by the chiefs.
While the Andoni people believe that Jaja swore fealty to and agreed to a non-aggression pact with them to secure the land. No one knows definitively what Jaja did to secure this land grant from the Andoni people. What is clear is that either the previous chiefs of Anna Pepple House or Jaja had been nurturing deep ties and relationships with the Andoni people.
Jaja led Opobo into a golden age. He effectively cut off most of the Igbo trade for the other merchant kingdoms through a mix of by intermarrying with plantation communities in the hinterlands, superior boats, and better-trained fighting men. He established Opobo as the main source of palm oil, giving him immense bargaining power with the British traders. Furthermore, he had imposed a tax on the British traders, prohibiting them from trading directly with the hinterlands. This irritated them and they began to put pressure on the colonial authorities to intervene.
The colonial authorities tried to intervene, but they lacked leverage at this point. Jaja was playing the colonial powers against each other, with an implicit threat to move over to the Germans if the British stopped being favourable to him. However, the widespread availability of quinine reduced the danger of malaria, and around the same time, Opobo had also been ceded to the British by the other great colonial powers. Traders no longer needed to fear the dangers of the region, and Jaja’s bargaining power diminished.
The downfall
The British declared Opobo part of the Oil River Protectorate and permitted their traders to penetrate the hinterlands and trade directly with the planters.
To quote Chief Minapakabo again;
“Jaja protested, and pulled possibly the greatest boss move in colonial West African history: He boycotted the brit traders and started shipping his palm oil to Europe directly.
In the midst of the trade war, he accused the British of faithlessness, for going back on the terms of their treaty with him.
This was a king who had sent troops to fight the Ashanti alongside the British and received a Sword of honour from Victoria. He was disgusted”
But it was a different world. Jaja and Opobo had lost most of their leverage and the British were in Africa for one thing, and one thing only; to extract resources. But that did not stop Jaja from working hard to sabotage them as much as possible.
Sometime in late 1886, the British Consul docked the H.M.S Goshawk a War Ship on the coast of Opobo and invited Jaja for talks, the implication was clear. Fearing for his safety, Jaja sought assurances from the Consul, who gave them to him. He would be released immediately after the talks. Jaja, himself a man of his word was satisfied, he went on board the H.M.S Goshawk where he was accused of Disrupting trade, imposing an illegal Monopoly on trade, refusing to stop taxing British traders and defiance of British Authority. He was placed under arrest and deported first to Accra for trial where he was found guilty and then exiled to London then St Vincents and finally Barbados.
It is said that when the people of Barbados (who were mostly of African descent) heard that there was an African king at the harbour about to be tried by the British, they blockaded the harbour and refused to let them through. They were forced to take him back to St Vincent.
Conclusion
Jaja never stopped fighting for his freedom and in 1891, he was granted permission to return to Opobo. Sadly, he died on the journey home, he had lived a very difficult life, and maybe the years had finally taken their toll. Whatever the case, that was the end of the life of one of the most consequential Africans to have ever lived.
He was initially buried in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, but his body was later exhumed and given a befitting burial in Opobo, the state he had founded.
Today, Opobo still exists as part of the modern Country of Nigeria, and a descendant of Jaja still sits on the throne.
Jaja’s legacy is undeniably complex, a man who rose from slavery to become a king, a shrewd businessman, and a symbol of resistance. Whether driven by ambition or a deep love for his people, his impact on the Niger Delta and the fight against colonialism remains undeniable.
