Nembe Kingdom | |
|---|---|
 Ijaw States, including Nembe | |
| Coordinates:4°32′N6°25′E / 4.533°N 6.417°E /4.533; 6.417 | |
| Country |  Nigeria |
| State | Bayelsa State |
TheNembe Kingdom is atraditional state inNiger Delta. It includes theNembe andBrass Local Government Areas[1] ofBayelsa State,[2]Nigeria. The traditional rulers take the title "Amanyanabo". Today, leadership[3] is split between the Amanyanabos of Ogbolomabiri, Bassambiri, Okpoama,Odioama andTwon Brass.[4]
The Nembes are anIzon people of theNiger Delta region, settled in the region that now includes theEdumanom Forest Reserve.[5]
The date of foundation of the old Nembe kingdom is unknown. Tradition says that the tenth king was called Ogio, ruling around 1639, the ancestor of all subsequent kings. A civil war later split the city into two factions. At the start of the 19th century, king Ogbodo and his followers moved to a new settlement at Bassimibiri, while king Mingi remained at Nembe city.[6]
With the arrival ofEuropeans on the coast, the Nembe kingdom became a trading state, but was relatively poor compared toBonny andCalabar.[7][8]
The Nembeslave trade picked up in the second quarter of the 19th century when theBritish attempted to suppressslave-trading in Africa byblockading the ports of Bonny and Calabar. The position of Nembe town 30 miles up theBrass River became an advantage in these circumstances.[9] However, with dwindling demand for slaves, by 1856 thepalm-oil trade had become more important and trade had moved to the town ofTwon-Brass on the coast.[8] In the later 19th century,Christian missionaries[10] contributed to the existing factional tensions among the Nembe. Ogbolomabiri acquired a Christian mission in 1867, while Bassambiri remained "heathen".[7]
After 1884, the Nembe kingdom was included in the area over which the British claimed sovereignty as part of theOil Rivers Protectorate. The Nembe, who by now controlled thepalm oil trade, at first refused to sign atreaty and sought to prevent theRoyal Niger Company obtaining a trade monopoly.[6] In January 1895 the Nembe KingWilliam Koko led a dawn attack of more than a thousand warriors on the company's headquarters atAkassa. This triggered a retaliatory raid in which an expeditionary[11] force led bySir Frederick Bedford captured and sacked Nembe, occurring concurrently with a devastating[12] outbreak ofsmallpox in the Kingdom.[6] The British later established aconsulate in Twon-Brass, from where they administered the area. Traditional rulers were reinstalled in the 1920s, but with an essentially symbolic role which they retain today.[13]
Rulers of Ogbolomabiri:[14]
| Start | End | Ruler |
|---|---|---|
| 1745 | 1766 | Mingi I |
| 1766 | 1788 | Ikata Mingi II |
| 1788 | 1800 | Gboro Mingi III |
| 1800 | 1832 | Kuko Mingi IV "King Forday" |
| 1832 | 1846 | Amain Mingi V "King Boy" |
| 1846 | 1846 | Kuki |
| 1846 | 1863 | Kien Mingi VI |
| 1863 | 1879 | Joshua Constantine Ockiya Mingi VII |
| 1879 | 1889 | vacant |
| 1889 | 1896 | Frederick William Koko Mingi VIII (d. 1898) |
| 1896 | 1926 | vacant |
| 1926 | 1939 | Joshua Anthony O. Ockiya Mingi IX (c.1873 – 1939 |
| 1939 | 1954 | vacant |
| 1954 | 1979 | Francis O. Joseph Allagoa Mingi X (d. 1979) |
| 1979 | 2007 | Ambrose Ezeolisa Allagoa Mingi XI (1914–2003) |
| 2008 | Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru, Mingi XII (b. 1943) |
Later rulers of Bassambiri:[14]
| Start | End | Ruler |
|---|---|---|
| 1870 | Arisimo "King Peter" | |
| 1870 | 1894 | Ebifa |
| 1894 | 1924 | vacant |
| 1924 | 1927 | Albert Oguara |
| 1928 | Ben I. Warri | |
| 1978 | 1993 | King Collins Festus Amaegbe-Eremienyo Ogbodo VII (1930–1993) |
| 1996 | 2013 | Ralph Michael Iwowari (1930–2013) |
