Fubara Manilla Pepple

Fubara Manilla Pepple, otherwise known as Fubara I Agbaa Pepple II, was a Nigerian monarch. He was the ruler of the Kingdom of Bonny from 1754 to 1792.

Both his lineal and adoptive descendants—who are all collectively known today as the House of Fubara Manilla Pepple—serve by tradition as one of Bonny's most powerful chieftaincy families.^[1]

• House Symbology
• 
  The

  heraldic beast

  of the House of Fubara Manilla Pepple.
• 
  A

  heraldic charge

  of the house and namesake of its founder.

Succession

The second son of King Perekule I Pepple, Fubara wasn't initially expected to succeed him as ruler. His elder brother, Ibulu Best Pepple, was their father's acknowledged heir, but in the lead up to his death he was found to be somewhat weak-willed. As a result, upon Perekule's death, Ibulu was sidelined by the elders and Fubara was called upon to take up the kingship thereafter. He was crowned in 1754.

Reign

In emulation of what was customary amongst the lower classes, Fubara's own position as a chief prior to his accession was only recognized because of his prior rule of the Fubara Manilla Pepples - a clan corporation that was partly based on

Perekule had seen to it that each of his sons had been provided with a house of his own during his reign. By the point when Fubara himself died in 1792, the Fubara Manilla Pepples were the largest and most successful of these

While this was going on, Fubara - who operated in business dealings with visiting European traders under the trade name Manilla Pepple - worked to balance trade and maintain order in the state. This latter aim wasn't always achieved, partly due to the fact that the king - far from being a neutral arbitrator in the house chiefs' squabbles - was himself an active participant in the trade that invariably caused them. This loss of royal neutrality had begun under Perekule, and had been compounded by his establishment of both the Fubara Manilla Pepple house and the Opubo Annie Pepple house of Fubara's younger brother (and eventual successor) Opubo.^[3]

Death and legacy

Fubara I died in 1792, and was succeeded by Opubo in the same year. The new king continued the official policy of bolstering his own position that had been the hallmark of his brother's reign, consolidating the twin powers of both the kingship and the Opubo Annie Pepple house in the process. He used the glory of his reign - something of a golden age in Bonny - to radically undermine the ascendancy of the other houses.

By the time that the Fubara Manilla Pepple regent Ibanibufuria was succeeded by his adopted son Chief Iringeresibo, a civil rupture seemed guaranteed. Upon Opubo's death, it was only averted by the declaration of war by the

• Kingdom of Bonny

References