Similarities between Benin and Opobo (3), by Eric Teniola

This week, we conclude the similarities between Benin and Opobo Meanwhile, Consul Johnston had written to the British Government requesting permission to expel Jaja, who had requested successive threats to compel him to meet British demands. The King was “invited” on board a British gunboat, HMS Goshawk, to meet Consul Johnston. Jaja was reassured by Johnston on the eve of their meeting that “I hereby assure you that whatever you accept or reject my proposals tomorrow no restraint whatever will be put on you—you will be free to go as soon as you have heard the message of the government”.

But once on board, Jaja was asked to choose between being tried for violating the treaty and seeing Opobo bombed by the British Navy. The King opted for trial, which was then held in Accra, Ghana. He was found guilty and banished in 1887 to the West Indies on a pension of 800 pounds per annum. This paved the way for the establishment of an effective colonial authority over the region, which in the first year provided nearly 90,000 from import duties alone.

King Jaja’s deportation caused much discontent in the Oil Rivers states. After repeated appeals to the British Government, the Colonial Secretary set up a commission to investigate and make recommendations for the administration of the new policy. In 1891, the commission, headed by Major Claude MacDonald, recommended that, in response to popular demand in Opobo, King Jaja should be returned and reinstated.

In the same year, King Jaja was allowed to return, but he died on the way back on July 7, 1891. His body was subsequently transported to Opobo, where it was buried. There are some countries that fought wars before achieving their independence. I have in mind the Mahdist War fought in Sudan between the British and Egypt; the Xhosa Wars between the Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire; the Algerian War between France and Algeria; the Dahomey War between the Dahomey Kingdom and France; and the Battle of Mbwila between Congo and Portugal.

The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Kenya Emergency, was a brutal guerrilla war fought between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army and British colonial forces. The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) was led by Dedan Kimathi. KLFA members mostly belonged to the Kikuyu ethnic group, although there was a great number of people from the Meru, Maasai and Kamba peoples, among others.

The Rhodesian Bush War was a civil war between three forces: the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the military wing of ZANU led by Robert Mugabe; the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), of ZAPU and Joshua Nkomo; and the Rhodesian Security Forces of Ian Smith. The Anglo-Zulu War was fought between the Zulu Kingdom and Britain.

It had many bloody battles; Britain lost more soldiers than usual for colonial wars. Britain wanted to wage war against the Zulu Kingdom so that it could control the region and use African labour in sugar plantations and mines. In December 1878, Sir Bartle Frere sent an ultimatum to the Zulu King Cetshwayo. The king did not accept it, and Britain invaded the Zulu Kingdom.

The Anglo-Zulu War lasted close to six months, from January to July 1879. It took place in the Zulu Kingdom, which is in northeastern modern-day South Africa. The Maji Maji Rebellion was a war between various peoples in Tanzania and Germany. During colonialism, Germans forced Tanzanians to labour for them. Tanzanians had to build their roads and were forced to grow cash crops like cotton for Germans to sell overseas.

Tanzanians warred against the Germans to put a stop to their suffering. The Maji Maji Rebellion took place on the land of many ethnic groups, like the Matumbi and Ngoni peoples, in Tanganyika, which is now southern Tanzania. It lasted two years, from 1905 to 1907. After Germany won the Maji Maji Rebellion, there was a famine called Ukame, or the Great Hunger, because of the scorched-earth policies the governor, G.

A. von Götzen, used during the war. It took more independence movements, led by people like Dr Julius Nyerere with TANU, for Tanzania to become independent from Britain. The Rif War was a war between the Rif Republic and Spain, later joined by France. Different Amazigh ethnic groups formed the Rif Republic. At the Berlin Conference, Spain decided that the Rif region was Spanish territory; however, until then, Spain had no real power there.

The Rif was rich in high-grade iron, which Spain soon started mining, something that Riffians did not want. The War of the Golden Stool, or the Fifth Anglo-Ashanti War, was a war between the Ashanti Kingdom and Britain. The Golden Stool was a royal and sacred throne and the symbol of power in the Ashanti Kingdom. In 1900, at a meeting with Ashanti leaders, Governor Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson demanded to have the Golden Stool and to sit on it, so that Britain could rule the Ashanti and their land, which was rich in gold.

Soon after, the Ashanti Kingdom, led by the Queen Mothe