King Jaja of Opobo

King Jaja Of Opobo. Photo Credit: www.Abiyamo.com

King Jaja of Opobo was born in 1821 and died in 1891. Jaja was a slave that was sold at the tender age of 12 to the king of bonny in bonny kingdom, Nigeria.  He was originally from umuduruoha but took the name Jaja because of his tactical relationship with the European.  Jaja showed his mastery of trade and business right from his early age, his skills earned him reputation which led to his promotion and removal from the position of a slave and eventually making him the paramount superintendent
of the famous Anna Pepple house. During Jaja’s regime in the bonny kingdom, dispute ensued and this led King jaja to formed a new community called Opobo in 1869. Opobo became known for its palm oil business, because of the plam oil boom, jaja quickly closed access to the interior from the British traders making him the sole supplier of the commodity. This act saw Opobo having the monopoly of shipping palm oil straight to Britain. As king jaja refused to let in the British traders, he was invited for negotiation. On arrival Jaja was captured and tried in the Gold Coast present day Ghana. He was taken to London but freed in 1891. On his way back to Opobo from Britain King Jaja died.