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Throwbackthursday: Adaka Boro declares Niger Delta Republic

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Throwbackthursday: Adaka Boro declares Niger Delta Republic

On February 23, 1966, some 51 years ago, the first attempt by the people of the Niger Delta to part ways with Nigeria, and have a country of their own, was made.

The move towards self-determination was engineered by Isaac Adaka Boro, an indigene of Kaiama in present day Bayelsa State, who led an armed insurrection in what is now termed the Twelve-Day Revolution.

Though Boro’s journey through Nigeria’s political landscape would seem ragged, he is perceived by many as a nationalist and civil war hero.

His activism began soon after he gained admission to study Chemistry at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He emerged as a Students Union President but abandoned the programme to establish and lead an armed protest group called Ijaw Volunteer Force.

Boro, who was at some point a teacher and also a policeman, hinged his popular revolt on perceived injustices meted out to the people of the Niger Delta whose environs were being largely degraded by the activities of oil companies and without commensurate development and empowerment of the people by the Nigerian State.

With an armed militia drawn largely from the Ijaw ethnic group, Boro led the Ijaw Volunteer Force to confront Nigerian Armed Forces, losing out after a twelve-day stand-off that began on February 23, 1966.

Having been routed, Boro was taken prisoner and jailed for treason but was released by Yakubu Gowon on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War in May 1967. Perhaps to repay his benefactors, Boro enlisted and was commissioned a Major, and fought on the side of the Federal Government during the civil war.

He died in active service in 1968 under mysterious circumstances.

The Niger Delta crisis remains largely unresolved till date with splinter armed groups fighting for spheres of influence while trumpeting the self-determination and resource control mantra. Such include Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and The Avengers (AV).

Sadly, several government intervention programmes under such banners as OMPADEC and NDDC have yielded little with the region still largely degraded. A fitting example is the Ogoni clean up which experts estimate will cost several billions and take some 30 years to achieve.

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