Riverine ethnicities have always jealously guarded their autonomy. Therefore, this Eastern region betrayal by the 'water people' is a hoax and should be laid to rest.
Boro was a true hero, an idealist and died for what he believed in, that is not something you can say for many Nigerian leaders.

na_so:

Oga all these your questions be like JAMB exam o.

I see your arrogance point here. The same disdain with which Ojukwu expected the Ijaws to fall in line without  any form of consensus building.
If Ojukwus declaration was 15 months after Boro's 12- day revolution  against the forces of oppression (regional and federal) and the Ibos still felt there was no need to sell the biafran idea properly to the Ijaws then I see why Boro is still a criminal in thine eyes.

While state creation in itself was not an end , it surely was a step in the right direction. It created some space in the political arena for the Ijaws.

Again I ask why are the Ibos still celebrating the Ike Nwachukwus of this world  who is a son and bad-mouth Boro was at best a neighbour?

Excellent points. Your honesty is refreshing.

Adaka Boro made the wrong choices for himself and for his people. If he didn't, he would have been alive today, or might have died in a more dignified circumstance.
Also, the present problems in the Niger-Delta is directly related to Boro's myopic philosophies. For a guy who grew up on the sweat and wealth of eastern Nigerians, before oil was discovered, he suddenly forgot how dependent his people were on Enugu.

naijaking1:

@tpia
Thanks for the reference
@Ibime
Please post some reliable, authentic reference one could rely upon to substantiate your theory(story)

What, you dont believe that Ijaw has never belonged to any extra-terrestrial Kingdom?

Tpia read some quack scholar who told her that:

tpia.:

The Calabar Kingdom comprised of loosely governed states that included: Annang, Akamkpa, Efik, Eket, Ibibio, Ikom, Ogoja, Opobo (now Ikot Abasi), Oron, Western Cameroon, and the offshore island of Fernando Po (now Equatorial Guinea). Calabar served as the capital city for the Kingdom as well as for the Efik State.

The quack historian must have his chronology in reverse because the Ikot Abasi referred belong[b]ed[/b] to the Calabar Kingdom till Jaja chased em away and named it Opobo after which he proceeded to subjugate every tribe along the Imo River and was known to launch several attacks on the Efik at Calabar itself. Now Ikot Abasi has 2 parts, one part is Opobo and the other part is the mainland. The mainland is still Efik territory, but the Island was forcefully taken by Jaja. No Ijaw tribe has ever fallen under the Calabar Kingdom, simple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opobo

naijaking1:

For a guy who grew up on the sweat and wealth of eastern Nigerians, before oil was discovered, he suddenly forgot how dependent his people were on Enugu.

Arrogant claptrap!

Dont get your knickers in a twist thinking this is about money, coal, crude-oil or the palm-oil trade, all of which "Adaka-Boro's people" participated in.

This is about autonomy for the people to make their own decisions, not being used as a football, or a pawn in the arrogant Wa-Zo-Bia contraption called Nigeria.

Enugu that cannot even treat Owerri with fairness and without squabbling. . . . . do you believe they treated minorities fairly and without squabbling?

I have told the story on Nairaland how my grandmothers brother founded what is now the Rivers State College of Arts and Crafts. He put an Igbo man called Mr Mbonu on the board of directors, and built the school in virgin land. When the papers went to Enugu for the naming of the street where the college was situated, they named the street Mbonu Street after the Igbo man who was only on the board of directors! Mbonu Street is in present day D-line.

Even worse is that my grandmothers brother, the Amanyanabo of Okrika, was not recognised by Enugu, but a nonentity was, just because his name is Igbo. Is this fair? I stress that my Grandmothers brother was the Amanyanabo because that only highlights the stripping away of Ijaw autonomy by Enugu. In the past, this man would never have to seek ratification from anyone, but because the British have landed in Nigeria, he must now subjugate himself to a beaurocrat in a far-away land who he would never have crossed path with prior to 1954. The irony of the matter is that he was the son of an Igbo migrant who rose to become the King of Okrika despite his Igbo blood, yet an Igbo technocrat discriminated against him because he is Ijaw!

This story is replicated all over the period from 1954 up till 1967 when the Eastern Region ceased to exist.

Yeah, we all know about the benevolence of our Enugu benefactors whom we were dependent on! What a bloody cheek!

It should be apparent by now that all Imperialistic structures in Nigeria will not succeed, whether the perpetrators or victims are Hausa, Ijaw, Igbo, Yoruba or Ogoni. Even the Ogonis complained of "Ijaw dominance" when they were placed in Rivers State with the Ijaw; and I for one will not argue against their point because by very nature, all Nigerian tribes look out for themselves first. This is why I have always advocated that power is devolved down to each individual people as much as possible; and henceforth people should stop defending the indefensible out of sheer tribal affiliation.

Ibime:

Arrogant claptrap!

Dont get your knickers in a twist thinking this is about money, coal, crude-oil or the palm-oil trade, all of which "Adaka-Boro's people" participated in.

This is about autonomy for the people to make their own decisions, not being used as a football, or a pawn in the arrogant Wa-Zo-Bia contraption called Nigeria.

So, wealth, mineral resources and oil are no longer the driving forces for the Niger-delta? Just keep shifting the goal post of this discussion as you like. You do understand that we existed before oil, during oil, and we will do even better after oil is gone. I like to see a purely Ijaw nationalistic discussion devoid of oil. Even when somebody on this particular thead had said Igbos wanted to steal and control their oil, you agreed.

According to you guys, Enugu cannot even treat Owerri with fairness, so do you believe they treated minorities fairly?

My brother, if you see a division that did not claim neglect in the former eastern Nigeria, please let me know. Rivers, Opobo, Nsukka, Owerri, and even Afikpo, the list went on. Why did you think you and you alone deserved special consideration?

I have told the story on Nairaland how my grandmothers brother founded what is now the Rivers State College of Arts and Crafts. He put an Igbo man called Mr Mbonu on the board of directors, and built the school in virgin land. When the papers went to Enugu for the naming of the street where the college was situated, they named the street Mbonu Street after the Igbo man who was only on the board of directors! Mbonu Street is in present day D-line.

Even worse is that my grandmothers brother, the Amanyanabo of Okrika, was not recognised by Enugu, but a nonentity was, just because his name is Igbo. Is this fair? I stress that my Grandmothers brother was the Amanyanabo because that only highlights the stripping away of Ijaw autonomy by Enugu. In the past, this man would never have to seek ratification from anyone, but because the British have landed in Nigeria, he must now subjugate himself to a beaurocrat in a far-away land who he would never have crossed path with prior to 1954.

This story is replicated all over the period from 1954 up till 1967 when the Eastern Region ceased to exist.

Yeah, we all know about the benevolence of our Enugu benefactors on whom we were dependent on! What a bloody cheek!

I sympathize you on any personal loss you or your family might have suffered in the 50s and 60s, but i thought the street was named after Mbonu Ojike, the famous journalist, independence fighter, and politician? I lived at Ekpo street myself in Enugu, and I never questioned it.

It should be apparent by now that all Imperialistic structures in Nigeria will not succeed, whether the perpetrators or victims are Hausa, Ijaw, Igbo, Yoruba or Ogoni, so I urge all to desist from defending injustice. Even the Ogonis complained of "Ijaw dominance" when they were placed in Rivers State with the Ijaw; and I for one will not argue against their point because by very nature, all Nigerian tribes look out for themselves first. This is why I have always advocated that power is devolved down to each individual people as much as possible; and henceforth people should stop defending the indefensible out of sheer tribal affiliation.

There is no society in this World that doesn't have minorities and majorities. The key is doing the will of the majority and protecting the rights of the minority.

Sure we can devolve power to as little a population as possible; so small communities that co-habited with each others before the war have become "nationalities"--- ikwerre nation, ndoki kingdom, garamtu republic, ukwa republic, banana bende republic, etc.

So much devolution, because some how they think they will recieve a direct portion of the federal cake(and sometimes they have), but that doesn't fool anybody.
When the oil dries up(and soon it will), and communities and people will be forced to support themselves as before, then people will do the most reasonable thing: mutually co-exist.

naijaking1:

So, wealth, mineral resources and oil are no longer the driving forces for the Niger-delta? Just keep shifting the goal post of this discussion as you like. You do understand that we existed before oil, during oil, and we will do even better after oil is gone. I like to see a purely Ijaw nationalistic discussion devoid of oil. Even when somebody on this particular thead had said Igbos wanted to steal and control their oil, you agreed.

My brother, if you see a division that did not claim neglect in the former eastern Nigeria, please let me know. Rivers, Opobo, Nsukka, Owerri, and even Afikpo, the list went on. Why did you think you and you alone deserved special consideration?

I sympathize you on any personal loss you or your family might have suffered in the 50s and 60s, but i thought the street was named after Mbonu Ojike, the famous journalist, independence fighter, and politician? I lived at Ekpo street myself in Enugu, and I never questioned it.There is no society in this World that doesn't have minorities and majorities. The key is doing the will of the majority and protecting the rights of the minority.

Sure we can devolve power to as little a population as possible; so small communities that co-habited with each others before the war have become "nationalities"--- ikwerre nation, ndoki kingdom, garamtu republic, ukwa republic, banana bende republic, etc.

So much devolution, because some how they think they will recieve a direct portion of the federal cake(and sometimes they have), but that doesn't fool anybody.
When the oil dries up(and soon it will), and communities and people will be forced to support themselves as before, then people will do the most reasonable thing: mutually co-exist.

Smart point. Thanks!

naijaking1:

Sure we can devolve power to as little a population as possible; so small communities that co-habited with each others before the war have become "nationalities"--- ikwerre nation, ndoki kingdom, garamtu republic, ukwa republic, banana bende republic, etc.

The ironic thing in your post here is 'We'. 'We' as you put it, have not been able to devolve power to themselves or significantly influence national policy in the past 30 years. What makes you think the 'we' can do it for anyone else.
They can be banana, plantain or cocoyam republic, let that be their problem.
After all, Bahrain has a population of 700,000, Malta 400,000, Iceland 300,000 and Liechstenstein 35,000 and some of these countries have no natural resources, so you can see the real obstacle to self determination and autonomy is the fear of those who can't stand on their own two feet.

naijaking1:

So much devolution, because some how they think they will recieve a direct portion of the federal cake(and sometimes they have), but that doesn't fool anybody.
When the oil dries up(and soon it will), and communities and people will be forced to support themselves as before, then people will do the most reasonable thing: mutually co-exist.

Nigeria has more gas reserves than it does oil, if the oil dries up there will be gas for a very long time, so your argument is very weak. Resource control is the foundation of the development of the Niger Delta.
You can't force mutual coexistence.

naijaking1:

So, wealth, mineral resources and oil are no longer the driving forces for the Niger-delta? Just keep shifting the goal post of this discussion as you like. You do understand that we existed before oil, during oil, and we will do even better after oil is gone. I like to see a purely Ijaw nationalistic discussion devoid of oil. Even when somebody on this particular thead had said Igbos wanted to steal and control their oil, you agreed.

Can you imagine this bloody cheek!   

Ijaws want the right to make their own decisions, but Biafra would not let them because of their oil. In turn, Nigeria would not let Biafra go because of the Niger-Delta oil. How can we mention the civil-war without mentioning oil, when the Hausas themselves wanted to leave Nigeria but for the discovery of oil. It seems others even thirst for the oil more than the owners of the oil. The oil is the secondary matter for the Ijaw, but for Ojukwu/Gowon, it is the PRIMARY matter!

Aburi accord holds just as true for the minorities in Biafra as it does for the Igbo in Nigeria.

Pharoah let my people go.

@Ibime

Please come on, my friend Ibime. You know as well as I do that by 1964, the only functioning crude oil well in Oloibiri was not pumping more crude oil than the crude oil well in Owaza, Asa County Council. The pipe lines that fed Okirika refinery ran from Oliobiri as well as Owaza and Bori.

What is it about this Ijo crude oil crap? In fact, the last time I checked, the onshore crude oil production in Imo State alone trumps those of Rivers or Bayelsa States.

How could all Ijo people agitate for region when most of the top government functionaries were Ijo?  It must be recalled that more than three regional ministers were Ijo, including the attorney-general.

Dede1:

@Ibime

Please come on, my friend Ibime. You know as well as I do that by 1964, the only functioning crude oil well in Oloibiri was not pumping more crude oil than the crude oil well in Owaza, Asa County Council. The pipe lines that fed Okirika refinery ran from Oliobiri as well as Owaza and Bori.

What is it about this Ijo crude oil crap? In fact, the last time I checked, the onshore crude oil production in Imo State alone trumps those of Rivers or Bayelsa States.

How could all Ijo people agitate for region when most of the top government functionaries were Ijo?  It must be recalled that more than three regional ministers were Ijo, including the attorney-general.

This thread is really educating and informing! Go on guys!
I have always advocated vigorous debate about ALL issues in Nigeria. A lot of lies have been bandied through the years and they have been accepted as truth. You may wake up to find out that the person whom you thought was your oppressor might actually be your victim!

This thread show the depth of human gullibilty.

Before misleading yourselves, please kindly remember that before oil, before the civil war, and before Adaka Boro, Ijaw people ran eastern Nigeria regional government in various capacities: foreign minister, attorney general, etc. This was in an era when revenue came principally from coal(mined in Enugu), personal taxation(mostly from Igbos because there were majority), and agricultural crops like palm fruits(also mostly from Igbos).

Ijaw people were glad to depend on Igbos when there was no oil. Then came the war, the oil, and Adaka Boro, and a federal government that demarcated most of the oil fields out of Igboland, then all of sudden some myopic Ijaws think that "they have it made"
All of a sudden, Ijaws came out of their dug-out canoes to assume ownership of other people 2-3 story houses in PH, because "Adaka Boro" helped them win those abandoned properties, a city that was built with coal revenue, and by Igbos, all of sudden PH became an Ijaw city.

Why
Didn't your mother tell you to always be honest, and to work hard to obtain whatever you want? Money and food don't fall from heaven or from other people's pockets, even if they're Igbos. I like to see an Ijaw or any other minority agitation based solely on principles and not on some pervated miscalculation about expected revenue from oil.

The experience of the past 40 years has shown that it takes more than one to tango. All the small clans in eastern Nigeria could go their way as they deem fit, no pressure to associate. It's actually better because a perfect union can't exist when some memebrs don't appreciate the importance of the union---- that's why all the states of the United States of America had to apply to join the union--voluntarily.

The weakness of Nigeria today, is partly because many people feel that they're in Nigerian union by force. Yes, I agree with you that mutual co-existence should not be by force. All said and done, you and me could at least give true and accurate information as we know it.
Ijaws and other 1000-member nationalities of the former eastern Nigeria can go their way, but history need not be re-written to suit that purpose.

The federal government that demarcated oil to any state, could reverse that delineation at any time, go ask Cross Rivers state. So why a people like the Ijaws make so much noise and break their natural alliances simply because of oil, I don't know, but it makes me wonder the depth and honesty of their  political philosophy.

Ibime:

Someones been reading too many books. . . . 

The Niger-Delta is untamable and has never been tamed due to the topology of the area and the fact that when tribes were attacked, they simply entered their canoes and moved to the next island.

Kalabaris used to live in Calabar. They were attacked by the Efiks and they ran away to Rivers State.

Andonis used to be part of Bonny, they then moved up the coast and chased away the Efiks who used to live in present-day Andoni

Ijaws were always persecuted in Benin and Warri, so they ran East to present-day Rivers State. All the Ijaws in present day Rivers State can trace their ancestry to Benin or Warri. Infact Warri means "my fathers house" in my language.

One Ijaw kingdom (Bonny) did subjugate other Ijaw kingdoms, but Ijawland has never been in another Kingdom. If fight starts, Ijaws will either fight-back or runaway to any of the plentiful islands in the Niger-Delta, but would never submit themselves to non-Oru people, therefore it was impossible for them to belong to any local empire except the British.

without books, oyibos wouldnt have conquered Africa. Oral history can only go so far.

Ijawland isnt an indivisible bloc like you're trying to present here. Ijaws have different links with different peoples depending on location. And they trace their ancestry back to the same ie based on region.

but would never submit themselves to non-Oru people, therefore it was impossible for them to belong to any local empire except the British.

highly debatable.

tpia.:


without books, oyibos wouldnt have conquered Africa. Oral history can only go so far.

Ijawland isnt an indivisible bloc like you're trying to present here. Ijaws have different links with different peoples depending on location. And they trace their ancestry back to the same ie based on region.

highly debatable.

Thank you my dear, I couldn't have said it better.

Oral history and folklore has its place, but in this age of written records, pencil/paper, computer; whatever my father or great-great-grand father told me purely based on his own limited interpretation and recollection ought to be taken with a pinch of salt.

1960 eastern Nigeria, there were newspapers, radio, court records, government gazettes, universities. It is quite questionable that any position taken by anybody with regards to any issue wouldn't have copious volumes of print media to support.

It's even more unfortunate when these questionable folklores are used to maintain and propagate hatred, dichotomy, and other myopic tendencies ennunciated by Adaka Boro.

Before the British, these ethnicities were separate entities. The British subjugated everyone. It is disingenious and perhaps dishonest to expect the Izon and Kalabari kingdoms to continue to accept the colonial boundaries and be tolerated tresspassers on their own land, it was simply not sustainable.

tpia.:

without books, oyibos wouldnt have conquered Africa. Oral history can only go so far.
Ijawland isnt an indivisible bloc like you're trying to present here. Ijaws have different links with different peoples depending on location. And they trace their ancestry back to the same ie base

With the greatest of respect, oyibo conquered Africa with the gun (superior military force) and their thirst for raw materials and not books. History is written from the perspective of the winners, hence the ancient greeks were able to plagiarise African knowledge (Egypt) as theirs. In our context we have witnessed revisionist historians from universities of Ife & Nsukka writing to suit political agendas. Just because it is written down doesn't make it right.

naijaking1:

It's even more unfortunate when these questionable folklores are used to maintain and propagate hatred, dichotomy, and other myopic tendencies ennunciated by Adaka Boro.

Evidence please! All we are saying is that marriage is not by force and before you start condemning Adaka Boro and the Niger delta ethnicities there are at least 20 prominent igbo civil war actors who should receive your insults first.

Who Killed Adaka Boro

By

Hosiah Emmanuel

Isaac Jasper Boro was born to a Kaiama family in present day Bayelsa State of Nigeria, in 1938 and died in mysterious circumstances on May 16, 1968 while fighting to unite Nigeria. [1,2]



Boro was he who shortly after the Jan. 1966 coup declared the first Republic within Nigeria called the Niger Delta Republic that lasted for 12 days. It was an attempt to liberate the Niger Delta people from the socio-economic oppression by the then eastern regional government. He was a chemistry undergraduate and the president of the students' union of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a police officer and at his death, a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army. see [4 for more details about this aspect of his life as I concentrate on the subject matter of this piece).



It is no use to repeat that Isaac Boro who was jailed by the Maj. Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi government on recommendation by the supreme court of Nigeria was pardoned by Lt. Col Yakubu Gowon's government and later commissioned by the Nigerian Army as an officer to help liberate southern territories under Biafran control. He recruited Rivers men who volunteered to serve under him and gave them brief training at Escravos. According to Obasanjo on page 47 of [1], Boro's one-thousand Rivers men were "hurriedly and poorly trained with little or nothing in the way of training facilities and resources". His group was then attached to the 3 Marine Commando Division (then 3 Marine) under the command of Col. Benjamin Adekunle. Adekunle's post-war political ambition was captured aptly by Obasanjo in his book "My Command" thus:



"Col. Adekunle, at this point saw the war not only in terms of crushing a rebellion, but also as a means of building himself up for any future political position or responsibility which he might wish to seek, I knew of people of Western State origin who had felt politically victimized and who saw in Col. Adekunle a saviour and told him so, and he believed them."



Is it possible that Adekunle planned the events that led to Boro's death as a scheme to take all the credits of the successes of the division at the time and permanently disconnect Boro's relationship with Federal headquarters?

Hear Obasanjo again:



"At the entrance to my office (Adekunle's former office) there was a warning signboard ' Enter at the pain of Death', I removed the notice and flung it some fifty metres, "



If you are following the foregoing, you will notice that the 3 Marine was not making progress at the time Boro and his men joined them. This informed the "hurried" training. But the fortunes of the group was changed by Boro's men and again Obasanjo who showed some disdain towards Boro in the style of his writing about Boro in his book, probably because he did not want to give too much credit to a commissioned officer who did not receive formal military training in order to protect the millitary instutution, captured it this way (page 50 of [1]):



"Eket. Here, Isaac Boro and his Rivers men of 'Sea School Boys' had become a significant factor in the operations of the Division. Their knowledge of the riverine areas, their understanding of the local languages, their ability to live off the land and their SWIFT though tactically less accomplished (?) movement accounted for their HUGE success in areas around Opobo, Andoni, Obodo, Opolom, Oranga, Buguma, etc"



The "etc" in the above statement is Obasanjo's which I take to mean that the list of areas where Boro's men recorded HUGE SUCCESSES was endless. If you recollect that the then Col. Obasanjo was the head of a division at Ibadan at the time and eventually replaced Col. Adekunle as head of 3 Marine Commando, you will take his words seriously. The gravity of his words weighed heavily on me as I realized (by reading the book) that he was not a fan of Boro. Boro and his men were responsible for the huge success of the 3 Marine Commando for which Adekunle took the initial credits. The fortunes of the 3 Marine Commando dwindled after Boro's death which led to the replacement of Adekunle with Obasanjo. Hear again

Obasanjo: [2]



" The morale of the soldiers at least of 3 Marine Commando Division was at its lowest ebb. Desertion and absence from duty without leave was rife in the Division. The despondence and general lack of will to fight in the soldiers was glaringly manifest in the large number of cases of self-inflicted injuries thoughout the formation, "



The preceding captures the result of the absence of a winning unit after Boro's death. It is glaring that the division commander did a miscalculation of thinking he could hold it together without Boro.



Getting back to why I suspect that Boro might have been killed in a conspiracy organized by Col Benjamin Adekunle, the then commander of the 3 Marine Commando division, it is noteworthy that a good number of the men of Boro's Brigade had similar suspicion which made them uncontrollable after his death and subsequent dissolution by the powers that-be. Hear Obasanjo: [1]

"It was here in Okrika that Maj. Isaac Adaka Boro was killed, APPARENTLY (emphasis mine) by a fleeing rebel soldier whom he encountered during a private visit. His death led almost immediately to the dissolution of 19 Brigade which became uncontrollable without him"



I took proper notice of the word "apparently" used by a very senior officer who later became a military head of state before writing the book. In Obasanjo's mind therefore, the true circumstances leading to death is unknown.



Despite basing my theory on official record of a senior officer of Obasanjo's calibre, some informal account that give credence to this exist. In an article recorded on the web in [3], one Mr. Akpobulokemi B. Oborokumo has the following to say:



"My cousin Jones, a Regimental Sergeant Major during the Nigerian civil war told me over and over again that Major Boro did not die in the heat of battle with the Biafran forces. He said the area had already been captured and secured by his company and Major Boro was on an inspection tour when they came under fire. My cousin swore by the Ijaw gods that it was an ambush by one of Brigadier Adekunle's units under the scorpion's direct command."



There is enough reason for the government of Bayelsa and the legislators from Bayelsa to get the appropriate federal institition to do a fresh investigation to establish true situation that led to his death. All related documents captured in the course of investigation will become useful for further research by interested persons in future.

Today is a great day, not only in your lives, but also in the history of the Niger Delta. Perhaps, it will be the greatest day for a very long time. This is not because we are going to bring the heavens down, but because we are going to demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression. Remember your 70-year-old grandmother who still farms before she eats; remember also your poverty-stricken people; remember, too, your petroleum which is being pumped out daily from your veins; and then fight for your freedom."
- Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (Feb 23, 1966)

"The Niger Delta has sufficient land to accommodate four of the largest cities in the world - London, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow — more than enough humidity to bathe the extreme aridity of the entire Sahara; and a physiognomy gloomy enough to repel the most adventurous of explorers."
- Isaac Adaka Boro

He (Adaka Boro) fought and died while trying to rescue his people from socio‑economic subjugation.
- Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN

Isaac Adaka Boro

By

Youpele Banigo


July 11, 2005


Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (1938-1968) is perhaps the most celebrated Ijaw nationalist. I knew that name before I began my elementary education at the age of six. Then I used to think that he was alive; I hoped to meet him one day. I actually met him, not physically. He died a few years before I was born but I was confronted with his enduring legacy, elegantly contained in his classic autobiography: The Twelve Day Revolution, released by its editor, Tony Tebekaemi, 14 years after his death.

My fixation about him stimulated me to investigate him further but I discovered that since his martyrdom in 1968, no serious study has been done about this great man. The few public lectures, drama sketches, newspaper articles and political statements available have only repeated what the man said about himself in his book. Most of these papers have only romanticised his guts and characterised him as a great man. This is hardly new.

Great men are complex to understand, and it seems the less their admirers know about them, the more they appeal to them. We know very little about this man, and even those who claim to be his followers understand him only but a little because Boro remained an enigma even when he lived. Consequently, the essence of Boro - his doctrine, thoughts, actions and very importantly his place in contemporary political thought, particularly now when the issue of resources control has gained popular currency - has continued to elude our grasp.

Boro represented James Aggrey’s analogy of the black and white keys of the piano - both must be played together to produce musical harmony. He signified a harmony between thought and action, between space and time - an almost flawless harmony, the depth of which is still too difficult to understand by this generation. Essentially an embodiment of action, Boro rebelled against two things. He rebelled against the prevailing deficit in the nation’s body polity. Second, he rioted against his Ijaw political leadership for ineptitude. He attempted to dismantle the foundation of what he considered to be a decaying institution, and enforce the will or essence of his thoughts to create a brand new structure.

Three experiences might have profoundly fashioned his thoughts and distinguished him as the leader of his age. First, he experienced, first-hand, the travails of belonging to a minority ethnic group in post-independent Nigeria. A second-class citizen in his own country, Boro discovered that his entire life depended on the goodwill of his ’superior’ neighbours. A young man of great ideas, dreams and abilities, Boro was disillusioned at his experiences in the police force in Yorubaland, his studentship in Igboland and his citizenship in Ijawland, all constantly reminding him that he (and his ethnic nationality) had no stakes in the emerging state. He wrote: “Year after year we are clenched in tyrannical chains and led through a dark alley of perpetual political and social deprivation. Strangers in our country!”

The second experience he had was his apparent whirlwind romance with socialist ideals at the University of Nigeria. In the 1950s, the western world witnessed its greatest threat since the modern state appeared with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, as socialist ideas swept across the world. Old Europe lay comatose, crippled by the vagrancies of unbridled capitalism at the end of the Second World War. Africa became the battleground of the West/East phony war, with the East making more inroads. Nkrumah, arguably the finest African nationalist demonstrated that a total de-link with the West was the best option. In spite of Balewa’s Nigeria’s policy on non-alignment, the Lagos/London tie flourished. But socialist ideas knew no boundaries: oppressed people are the same despite country, colour or creed.

Free socialist pamphlets and scholarships became commonplace in southern Nigeria, with Enugu, the headquarters of the Eastern region government, flocking its holy devotees. Great minds like the Nzimiros walked tall, fighting all capital freaks to a stand still and amassing any army of socialist aficionado. The existing thing about Marxian philosophy is that it offers the most scientific explanation of social relations in our society but its ‘nuisance’ is that it has the capacity to revolutionise its convert and sets him on a coalition course with the authority, fired by the firm assurance that ‘the proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains’.

Socialism taught Boro both its exciting and nuisance elements. Boro realised that Nigeria was just a self-governing periphery of the Western dominated international capitalism and its ruling elite or bourgeoisie were the machinery of exploitation, executing the functions mapped out to it by the world capitalist system. Boro reported in his biography how he literally trekked the West African coastline exploring collaborations with President Nkrumah as well as the Russian, Chinese and Cuban embassies for socialist revolution in Nigeria.

The third and most profound experience was the 1959 general elections in Nigeria. The regional policy enforced in 1944 by the Richard constitution sandwiched the Ijaw people between the western and eastern regions. The experience of the Ijaw peoples in these two regions was very unpleasant. Dr. Okorobia, in his doctoral work has critically examined the condition of the Ijaw people in the eastern region and concluded that it was the ’single most effective policy used to internally colonise and under-develop the erstwhile virile and progressive city-states of the Niger Delta’. Modern Ijaw nationalism also sprouted at this time, markedly different from the agenda of the Ijo Rivers People’s League (1930), and the Ijo Tribe Union (1943).

With the inauguration of the Rivers Division People’s League and the Rivers State Congress from 1944, the campaign graduated from self-identity to a separate Ijaw state. State creation became important to the minorities because it gave them self-identity and space in the polity. To be denied a state was to send a people to eternal damnation without remedy. Given the bitter resistance these bodies received from the Eastern regional government, Ijaw leaders reached an understanding with the Action Group (AG), a major opposition party in the East to give support for the creation of Rivers State.

The Ijaw/Yoruba compromise instigated a mass movement of NCNC faithful to the opposition, AG in the Federal Elections of 1954. Chief N.G. Yellowe contested and won as the AG candidate for the Degema Division, using as his key election issue, the creation of Rivers State. The NCNC’s loss in the Degema Division to AG triggered more antagonism from Enugu, as some developmental benefits were withdrawn from the Ijaw area.

Ijaw leaders pressed on and formed the Rivers Chiefs and Peoples Conference (RCPC) on July 4, 1956 to strengthen their emancipation from the tyranny of their neighbours. A year later RCPC received invitation from the Colonial Office to present its case in the 1957 constitutional conference in London. RCPC’s demand for a separate state was rejected and the Conference referred this simple matter to a special commission headed by Sir Henry Willink. The Commission also rejected the demand for a separate Ijaw state, feigning non-existence excuses.

The failure of the London Conference to recommend an Ijaw state, combined with the ever-increasing weight of oppressive measures from the regional government provoked the Ijaw leaders to take more pragmatic measure to achieve a separate state. RCPC was discarded for its non-partisan status and more radical moves were initiated. A new political party, the Niger Delta Congress (NDC), was inaugurated to field candidates for the 1959 general elections. The NDC’s manifesto was perhaps the most significant statement the Ijaw people made since the Akassa War (1895). A careful study of the manifesto will show that the people had reached the final constitutional stage for their struggle for self-determination.

If this effort failed, violence was inevitable. One of the statements of the manifesto read: The Niger Delta Congress is now warning all citizens in the Niger Delta, that any single vote which they may cast for the NCNC or the Action Group in constituencies in the Niger Delta is a mandate for these enemy parties to neglect and abolish the Niger Delta tribes. The only approved way of expressing your resentment against these atrocious plans of the NCNC and the Action Group is to vote for the Niger Delta Congress now and for all time. Away! Away! Away! With the NCNC. Away with the Action Group. Vote for the Niger Delta Congress’.


The NDC formed an alliance with the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), the largest political party in the country with an understanding that the relationship would mutually benefit both peoples and address the age-long neglect of the area. The 1959 elections was a disaster for the Ijaw people; only one candidate won on NDC platform. The NDC/NPC alliance was a fraud. Meanwhile the younger generation was observing with absolute consternation the lack of commitment of the Nigerian state and the Ijaw leadership to address their lot. In struggling for self-determination through a constitutional process, the Ijaw people seemed to be getting to their wits’ end.

It is at this point that Boro, the most visible expression of the youths arrived. He described the NDC as a failure and set the agenda for a violent struggle for self-determination. His thoughts reflected the general level of apprehension and disillusionment among the younger generation. He wrote: ‘The only success of the Niger Delta Congress was that it was able to send Milford Okilo from Brass Division (Yenagoa Province) to the Federal House… Inevitably, therefore, the day would come for us to fight for our long denied right to self-determination”.

The coming of the ‘January boys’ in 1966 and the near collapse of the Nigerian project orchestrated by the Biafran threats snowballed the discontent of the Ijaw youths and in February, Isaac Boro led a squad of 150 volunteers to pullout the Ijaw people from Nigeria under the new state called The Niger Delta Republic.

"Today is a great day, not only in your lives, but also in the history of the Niger Delta. Perhaps it will be the greatest day for a very long time. This is not because we are going to bring heaven down, but because we are going to demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression. Before today, we were branded robbers, bandits, terrorists or gangsters but after today, we shall be heroes of our land.

Isaac Adaka Boro

Did Adekunle Kill Boro

The day Adekunle killed the guy in the Delta, Isaac Boro. We went with the observer team to Port-Harcourt. Isaac Boro was the leader of the group that liberated Port-Harcourt and then declared Republic of the Niger Delta there. And then, Adekunle was taking. You know, Adekunle was always stealing money then. He would come and blackmail Gowon. Gowon would tell him to go to Central Bank and carry four or five lorries to Central Bank, load them with money. Halfway, he would divert it back to Lagos, he would then take half to the front. So, the British Prime Minister came on that day. We were on the observer team with Harold Wilson when we got to Port-Harcourt. Boro did not allow the British team, so when Adekunle came, he was so furious and then they fought for about thirty minutes before they captured him."

bombay:

Did Adekunle Kill Boro

The day Adekunle killed the guy in the Delta, Isaac Boro. We went with the observer team to Port-Harcourt. Isaac Boro was the leader of the group that liberated Port-Harcourt and then declared Republic of the Niger Delta there. And then, Adekunle was taking. You know, Adekunle was always stealing money then. He would come and blackmail Gowon. Gowon would tell him to go to Central Bank and carry four or five lorries to Central Bank, load them with money. Halfway, he would divert it back to Lagos, he would then take half to the front. So, the British Prime Minister came on that day. We were on the observer team with Harold Wilson when we got to Port-Harcourt. Boro did not allow the British team, so when Adekunle came, he was so furious and then they fought for about thirty minutes before they captured him."

eh Eziokwu

@bombay

What a change of mind? I am glad that you have decided to educate yourself on factual facts rather than hugging make-belief sentimental craps that flood the forum by misguided folks.

Most of the article you have recently posted have collaborated my sentiments about the death of Adaka Boro. In addition, the aforementioned articles had eroded the ridiculous claims by few delusional Ijo peeps that the so-called emancipation of Niger Delta was an outcome of Akassa raid of 1897.

No more than one seat, both on regional or federal level, was ever won by a party or party alliance outside NCNC in both Brass and Rivers Provinces.

To allege that Ojukwu or any governor of eastern region of Nigeria had looked upon Ijo people with disdainful demeanor simply amounted to wild goose chase. I could recall that Ojukwu personal physician was an Ijo. Would it not amount to playing Russian roulette choosing a personal physician from the same ethnic group that the governor had wanted to be irrelevantly subjugated?

It is no surprise that the same doctor had to apologize to Ndigbo on behalf of the Ijo people for what appeared to be massive turncoats among Ijo people in the issue of Nigerian/Biafra civil war. He went further to state the Ndigbo should realize that Ijo is no power to either withstand the forces of Biafra or that of Nigeria.

Was it really adekunle that killed Boro

Dede 1 don't push it

bombay:

Dede 1 don't push it

Because it went against your belief

I am sure it was not what you expected.

If it went against my belief will i put it down so that people can read it and make judgement for themselves.
Aisha you must have a very warped mind to think like that.
What do you think i was expecting people to run along with me in my line of thinking,  you must be very funny i don't give a hoot.
Fact and evidence.
Modern day thinking.
I am in did very sorry for you you expect people to agree with all the time.
My advice go sit down somewhere and reflect think hard people like you don't live in this age any more.

bombay:

If it went against my belief will i do put it down so that people can read it and make judgement for themselves.
Aisha you must have a very warped mind to think like that.
What do you think i was expecting people should run along with me you must be very funny i don't give a hoot.
Fact and evidence.
Modern day thinking.
I am in did very sorry for you you expect people to agree with all the time.
My advice go sit down somewhere and reflect think hard people like you there days have passed.

Modern day thinking You think i am an old man Fact i have known a long time ago it is now you are knowing Good that you are now lifted your ass to make reseaches rather than sitting down absorbing stories handed to you by your elders.

Do you think we are zombies at least we put the effort what about you sideliner contribute something do your own research.
You just open your gworo mouth to vomit crap.

bombay:

Do you think we are zombies at least we put the effort what about you sideliner contribute something do your own research.
You just open your gworo mouth to vomit crap.

Wait. . . you think i am a northerner Abeg check my posts on nairaland.

Dede1:

@bombay

What a change of mind? I am glad that you have decided to educate yourself on factual facts rather than hugging make-belief sentimental craps that flood the forum by misguided folks.

Most of the article you have recently posted have collaborated my sentiments about the death of Adaka Boro. In addition, the aforementioned articles had eroded the ridiculous claims by few delusional Ijo peeps that the so-called emancipation of Niger Delta was an outcome of Akassa raid of 1897.

No more than one seat, both on regional or federal level, was ever won by a party or party alliance outside NCNC in both Brass and Rivers Provinces.

To allege that Ojukwu or any governor of eastern region of Nigeria had looked upon Ijo people with disdainful demeanor simply amounted to wide goose chase. I could recall that Ojukwu personal physician was an Ijo. Would it not amount to playing Russian roulette choosing a personal physician from the same ethnic group that the governor had wanted to be irrelevantly subjugated?

It is no surprise that the same doctor had to apologize to Ndigbo on behalf of the Ijo people for what appeared to be massive turncoats among Ijo people in the issue of Nigerian/Biafra civil war. He went further to state the Ndigbo should realize that Ijo is no power to either withstand the forces of Biafra or that of Nigeria.

This is the biggest news of the day for me. Do you recall the doctors name?
Also I'm not surprised that Igbos have had the greatest problem from poorly educated and uninformed people from the former eastern Nigeria. So, it's easier to weep up false and wild sentiments about things that never happened.
I'm not surprised that the Imokes of Cross River, Akpabios of Akwa Ibom, the Kogbaras of Ogoni remain true patriots of their respective states, and of eastern Nigeria.

SapeleGuy:

Before the British, these ethnicities were separate entities. The British subjugated everyone. It is disingenious and perhaps dishonest to expect the Izon and Kalabari kingdoms to continue to accept the colonial boundaries and be tolerated tresspassers on their own land, it was simply not sustainable.

well, it seems the Ijos and Kalabaris also had bitter land disputes of their own prior to the arrival of the British and possibly stemming from the Portuguese involvement with Africa and the slave trade. Must one always lay all the blame solely on the British? I'm not saying they're angels though. Dont get me wrong.

SapeleGuy:

With the greatest of respect, oyibo conquered Africa with the gun (superior military force) and their thirst for raw materials and not books. History is written from the perspective of the winners, hence the ancient greeks were able to plagiarise African knowledge (Egypt) as theirs. In our context we have witnessed revisionist historians from universities of Ife & Nsukka writing to suit political agendas. Just because it is written down doesn't make it right.

here's another way of looking at it:

"What became of the Black people of Sumer?" the traveler asked the old man, "for ancient records show that the people of Sumer were Black. What happened to them?" "Ah," the old man sighed. "They lost their history, so they died."

A Sumer legend



oral history can only go so far!

and mind you, my original post should have said whites and Arabs.

And ancient Greeks transferred the knowledge you mention through writing, didnt they?

Of course people manipulate history but that's to be expected.

Dede1:

@Ibime

Please come on, my friend Ibime. You know as well as I do that by 1964, the only functioning crude oil well in Oloibiri was not pumping more crude oil than the crude oil well in Owaza, Asa County Council. The pipe lines that fed Okirika refinery ran from Oliobiri as well as Owaza and Bori.

What is it about this Ijo crude oil crap? In fact, the last time I checked, the onshore crude oil production in Imo State alone trumps those of Rivers or Bayelsa States.

How could all Ijo people agitate for region when most of the top government functionaries were Ijo? It must be recalled that more than three regional ministers were Ijo, including the attorney-general.

Oga dis your story no correct at all, besides are looking at the drivers of economic might at the start of the civil war.

For your information , in 1965 alone the revenue from oil was 78,000,000 pounds. At the start of the civil war nigeria was averaging 580,000 barrels of crude a day this was accounted for by three oil companies- Gulf oil nigeria, SAFRAP and shell-BP,while 2 others AGIP, and AMSEAS were on the verge of exporting oil.

On june 19 1967 barely three weeks after the creation of the state of biafra, the permanent secretary requested for royalties from shell-BP for the first half of the year. On june 29 Ojukwu summoned the general manager of shell-BP and stated that the payment of royalties by july 1st was firm.

i meant to say permanent secretary ministry of finance of the new Biafran goverment