King Jaja and Christianity in Opobo Kingdom of the Eastern Niger Delta (Published)
King Jaja and Christianity in Opobo Kingdom of the Eastern Niger Delta is part of our reaction to the notion that King Jaja was opposed to Christianity. The article traces the activities of missionaries in Bonny before the Bonny Civil War in 1869 which led to King Jaja’s founding of Opobo kingdom. In Opobo, King Jaja supported Chief Epelle, an evangelist, to return to Opobo to continue the work of evangelism. This paper specifically looks at the missionary activities of Bishop Crowther and King Jaja who felt he was biased, favoured the Manilla Pepple faction of the royal family against the Annie Pepple group. The paper opines that it was for this reason that King Jaja turned his back against Bishop Crowther and his version of Christianity. This paper uses both oral history and published works in Christianity in Bonny and other parts of the Niger Delta to support the argument that King Jaja was a Christian.
Keywords: Christianity, Eastern, King Jaja, Niger-Delta, Opobo Kingdom