Following the decline of the house of Anna-pepple, Jaja found himself in clashes with king Oko Jumbo of the Manilla Pepple house and when civil war broke out in Bonny, Jaja left the city with a large number of followers and founded his own settlement on the River Imo which he later named Opobo, he therefore declared himself as king Jaja of Opobo which became an independent entity of its own.

The creation of a new state began the political career of Jaja for it later became the most important state in the Delta region whose significance was later seen in the attempt by the British agents especially the Christian missionaries to take over the independence of Opobo.  Something that Jaja wasn’t willing to allow for he usually regarded religion as a dangerous philosophy because he was certain it would undermine the authority of the state just as it had done in the state of Bony where the people were divided between those who followed traditionalist and those who followed the new Christian principles which in the long run made people lose their confidence in William Pepple who was now to be regarded as a mere puppet in the hands of the missionaries and British.

It’s therefore from this lesson that Jaja refused to welcome missionaries to his kingdom while at the same time missionaries wanted to expand there which later created enmity between the British missionaries and Jaja of Opobo.

The British councils and traders in the delta region were suspicious and afraid of Jaja and thereby tried their level best to reduce his authority and influence but meanwhile he was steadily increasing his wealth by monpolising the palm oil trade in the area.  His trading activities brought him closer to the British traders who were also determined to carry out trade along the delta states and this brought a lot of conflicts between Jaja and the British.

Jaja’s determination to make his kingdom remain independent greatly worried the British because a powerful state like that of Opobo could stand in their way towards the control of the Niger Delta region and therefore the British were determined to do away with Jaja’s authority.  It’s in this light that the two parties clashed.

The British offered Jaja protection through the British consul  at Lagos something Jaja refused for he demanded for a proper explanation from the British consul on the meaning of the word “protection” something that worsened the relationship between Jaja of Opobo and the British because the British consul regarded this as an abuse from an African ruler and the climax of which was when Jaja of Opobo went ahead and expelled some British firms from his territory like the Miller Brothers factory which initially controlled the oil river and this to the British made Jaja an enemy and indeed in 1887, the British declared war on Jaja after all attempts including intimidation failed to make him heed to British imperialism.

After all attempts to intimidate him failed, they attacked him in 1887, and exiled him in West Indies and indeed the defeat of Jaja withdrew the thorn from the flesh of British imperialism for the British didn’t face any other powerful leader like Jaja of Opobo and indeed it was from then that the British were able to control the whole of the delta region.