HE AKASSA RAID OF 1895: WHEN IJAW WARRIORS SHOOK THE BRITISH EMPIRE!
🔥 THE AKASSA RAID OF 1895: WHEN IJAW WARRIORS SHOOK THE BRITISH EMPIRE!
“WE WOULD RATHER DIE BY THE SWORD THAN DIE OF HUNGER.”
Long before Nigeria gained independence, the Ijaw Kingdom of Nembe launched one of the boldest anti-colonial military campaigns in West African history.
On January 29, 1895, King Frederick William Koko (Mingi VIII of Nembe) led a daring assault on the headquarters of the Royal Niger Company (RNC) at Akassa in what became known as the Akassa Raid, Brass Oil War, or Nembe-Akassa War.
This was not a random attack. It was a carefully planned resistance against economic oppression and British commercial domination.
WHY DID THE IJAW PEOPLE GO TO WAR?
By the late 1880s, the Royal Niger Company had secured a British charter that gave it overwhelming control over trade across the Niger Delta.
For centuries, the Nembe (Brass) Kingdom had prospered as a major trading power in palm oil and other goods. But the British monopoly changed everything.
The Company:
âś… Blocked traditional trade routes.
âś… Prevented local merchants from trading freely.
âś… Forced unfair prices on indigenous traders.
âś… Destroyed the economic lifeline of the Nembe people.
As poverty spread, King Koko gathered chiefs from Ogbolomabiri, Bassambiri, Twon-Brass, Okpoma, and other allied communities.
Their conclusion was unforgettable:
“To die by the sword is far better than to die of hunger.”
King Koko reportedly renounced Christianity, performed traditional spiritual rites, and united hundreds of Ijaw warriors for what would become one of the most daring attacks on British commercial power in Africa.
THE DARING ATTACK
Before dawn on January 29, 1895, between 1,000 and 1,500 Ijaw warriors, travelling in more than 20 war canoes, silently moved through the creeks under the cover of darkness.
Their target?
The Royal Niger Company’s heavily stocked headquarters at Akassa.
The surprise attack overwhelmed the defenders.
The warriors:
🔥 Captured the station.
🔥 Burned warehouses and offices.
🔥 Destroyed trading facilities.
🔥 Seized weapons, ammunition, trade goods, and even a Maxim gun.
Contemporary accounts suggest the Company suffered heavy losses, while Nembe casualties during the raid itself were comparatively few.
THE AFTERMATH
Captured prisoners were taken to Nembe.
Negotiations over their release reportedly failed. Contemporary British and local accounts describe subsequent executions of many captives at what became known as Sacrifice Island, although details and some allegations made at the time remain disputed by historians.
BRITAIN STRIKES BACK
The British Empire responded with overwhelming military force.
Within weeks, warships and marines launched a punitive expedition against Nembe.
Communities were bombarded.
Homes were burned.
Large parts of the kingdom were destroyed.
Many people were killed, while disease and displacement brought even greater suffering.
King Koko escaped capture and later wrote to Queen Victoria, arguing that his struggle was against the Royal Niger Company and its monopoly—not against the British Crown itself.
A LEGACY THAT CHANGED HISTORY
Although the Nembe Kingdom paid a terrible price, the Akassa Raid exposed growing opposition to the Royal Niger Company’s rule.
Just a few years later, in 1899, the Company’s charter was revoked, paving the way for direct British colonial administration.
Today, the Akassa Raid remains one of the most remarkable examples of indigenous resistance to colonial economic domination in West Africa.
It is remembered in Nembe as a symbol of courage, sacrifice, unity, and the determination of a people who refused to surrender their economic freedom.
History should never be forgotten.
Do you think the Akassa Raid deserves greater recognition in Nigerian history books?
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