Opobo is a traditional state in southern Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

. The state was founded in 1870.
A part of the traditional state is now Ikot-Abasi

Ikot-Abasi

Ikot Abasi is located in the South West corner of Akwa Ibom State at latitude 40` 32` to 400 N and longitude 70` 25` to 70045` E. It is bounded by Oruk Anam Local Government Area in the North, Mkpat Enin and Eastern Obolo Local Government Areas in the West and the Atlantic Ocean in the South...

 in Akwa Ibom State.

History

Opobo was to the east of the Kingdom of Bonny

Kingdom of Bonny

The Kingdom of Bonny is a traditional state based on the town of Bonny in Rivers State, Nigeria. Founded in the 14th century AD, it became an important slave trading port, later trading palm oil products. During the 19th century the British became increasingly involved in the internal affairs of...

. A former slave called Jubo Jubogha (known as "Ja-Ja" to Europeans) led the Anna Pepple house of Bonny. In 1870, Jaja arrived in Opobo from Bonny, moving due to a dispute with chief Oko Jumbo

Oko Jumbo

Oko Jumbo was an important chief in the Kingdom of Bonny, a state in the Niger Delta, now part of Rivers State, Nigeria. For many years in the 19th century he was the effective ruler of Bonny.-Background:...

, the leader of the rival Manilla Pepple family.
Jaja overpowered the indigenes and formed what he called "Kingdom of Opobo" which he named for Opobo the Great, a Pepple King in Bonny that reigned from 1792 to 1830.

Jubo Jubogha became involved in palm oil trading with Europeans. He started a trading post at Opobo Town, close to Ikot Abasi 4 miles southwest of the Opobo River. The European traders called him King Jaja. Jubo Jubogha was never on good terms with the Annang

Annang

The Annang is a cultural and ethnic group that lives in the Coastal Southeast Nigeria...

 and the Ibibio to the east, as Jaja declared himself as the middle-man in palm Oil trading, thus asking them to stop trading directly with the European. This resulted in a war (Ikot Udo Obong War) between Jaja and the Annang and Ibuno people as recorded by Nair. In 1887, he was deceived when he was told to go and negotiate with the Queen of England by the British and sent on exile to Saint Vincent

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....

 in the West Indies.

Rulers

The rulers of Opobo were:

Start	End	Ruler
25 December 1870	September 1887	Jubo Jubogha "Jaja I" (b. 1821 - d. 1891)
September 1887	1891	Perekule (chairman Council of Chiefs)
1891	1893	"Cookey Gam" (political agent)
1893	12 October 1915	Obiesigha Jaja II (Frederick Sunday)
1916	1936	Dipiri (Arthur Mac Pepple)
1936	1942	Sodienye Jaja III (1st time) (Douglas Mac Pepple) (d. 1980)
1942	1946	Stephen Ubogu Jaja IV (acting)
1952	31 July 1980	Sodienye Jaja III (2nd time) (Douglas Mac Pepple)
1980	2002	Vacant
1 October 2002		Daneson Douglas Jaja V (b. 1947)

Further reading

• Burns, Alan. History of Nigeria, George Allen & Unwin, 1929.
• Dike, Kenneth O. Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885, Oxford University Press, 1956.