The Restive Spirit Of Isaac
Adaka Boro
By Patrick Naagbanton
On December 11, 1998, I was
among a band of radical activists and journalists, who defied threats by the Military
junta of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and massed at the small village of Kaiama,
in the Ijaw heartland of Bayelsa State, to proclaim the now famous, kaiama Declaration.
Hundreds of angry youths drawn from over 500 communities that make up the Ijaw
nation, as well as peoples from other nationalities in the Niger Delta and beyond
attended the event, which gave birth to the militant Ijaw Youths Council (IYC).
Kaiama
was indispensable to such declaration. Kaiama is the birthplace of the legendary
Niger Delta revolutionary and activist, Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro of evergreen
memory. The meeting was held in a place in the community where the remains of
the icon were interred. The death of Boro, like other epic heroes, is warped in
controversies and mystery. This ode becomes necessary at a time like now, because
necessary at a time like now, because he died in May, on his way to my hometown,
Bodo-city in the Gokana Local Government Area, Ogoni, Rivers State.
Boro was
born in 1938. Later in his life, he joined the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), before
voluntarily resigned from the force, to pursue a degree course at the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN). As a young undergraduate at the university, he was
elected the president of the student's union government. At Nsukka, he was noted
as a fearless critic of Belewa Azikiwe government on may issues, his radicalist
activities in the school shaped the politics of the then National Union of Nigeria
Students (NUNS), the umbrella body of all Nigerian Students in tertiary institutions.
He
was elected President of the Student's Union government in October 1964. He won
his election by majority vote. Isaac Boro defeated Mr. Emezie, who later joined
him (Boro) to sue the Federal Government of Belewa-Azikiwe on the 1964 general
elections in Nigeria. Before his election, there had been a convention of NUNS
at Ibadan. In that convention, the UNN delegates who Boro was part of, staged
a walk out alleging that, the election of the officers of the union had been rigged.
When he ascended to power in UNN, he decided to fight to a finish. Ebenezer Babatope
properly chronicled the tenure and struggles of Boro at UNN, in his excellent
book, Student power in Nigeria (1956 - 1980), Lagos, 1991.
Babatope, was one
of the arrowheads of the student movement in Nigeria, in the 70s, and later columnist,
writer and politician. In the above book, he provided us with a comic tale of
Boro's wonderful days at UNN. According to his account, the young radical undergraduate
student was the first non-Igbo, to become the president of that student's union,
of a University purely dominated by the Igbos. His mates record a funny experience
they had when Adaka Boro had a show down with the president of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe. It was said that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe feeling disturbed by the noise made
by Boro's record player had sent a servant of his, to go and appeal to Boro to
stop annoying disturbance. (Boro's hostel was first by the side of the house of
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Nsukka). Boro was said to have written a short note to the
president of Nigeria then, in which he wrote, "sir, you are the president
of the whole of Nigeria, but here at Nsukka, I am president" that was radical
Boro of blessed memory.
Around December 1964, Boro left the University without
completing his studies in chemistry, and went to Lagos, then capital of Nigeria,
to work. Poor Boro! Still troubled by the political and economic injustices environmental
and health hazards visited on his Ijaw people and other Niger Deltans by the Nigerian
State and the oil and gas corporations, he returned to the delta after a brief
sojourn in Lagos, to start a people' revolution, to liberate his suffering and
oppressed people from their chains. Those who were with Boro's revolutionary soul
mates who are still alive, who I interviewed described Boro as a quick, hot-tempered
fellow, especially in the face of injustice and oppression.
In early January
1965, Boro with his 159 guerrillas under the aegis of the Niger Delta Peoples
Volunteer Services (NDPVS) had proclaimed the Niger Delta Peoples Republic with
himself as the head of State. Addressing NDPVF troops, Boro declared, "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 demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression.
Before today, we were branded robbers, bandits, terrorists or gangsters but after,
we shall be heroes of our land".
Battlefront Niger Delta! The then military
government of the Late Major-General J. T. U. Aguiyi Ironsi who took over power
from Belewe-Azikiwe government did not take Boro's rebellion kindly. However,
Boro was prepared for worst. He put his skills in insurgency and guerrilla warfare
to use. He commanded his NDPVS and engaged the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), who
was first sent after him in a bloody battle, he defeated them. Soldiers were later
sent after him in a full-scale warfare. They (soldiers) were initially defeated,
but Boro was later captured, tried and sentenced to death by the Ironsi's Junta.
At
the outbreak of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war on May 1967, the then head of state,
Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon, pardoned Boro and commissioned him directly and personally,
to fight on the side of the Federal Government. During the civil war, Boro led
the 16th Brigade, an amalgam of hundreds of during young and brave soldiers under
his command. His brigade was directly under the dreaded Third Marine Commando
(3MCDO) led by Col. Benjamin Adekunle a.k.a The Black Scorpion, General Officer
Commanding (GOC). Indeed, Adaka Boro's Military prowess and dexterity in war theatres
at Ogidigbe on the Escravos River, Calabar, Bonny, Bodo, Onne and other places
in the Niger Delta region, left no one in doubt that he was a gallant soldier
and tactician.
Jovial, loud and often times boisterous, disciplined and compassionate
Boro, born of a humble and highly cultured family in of a humble and highly cultured
family in Kaiama, met his untimely death on May 16, 1968, while on an inspection
to Bodo-City, Ogoni. After the humiliating defeat of Ojukwu's soldiers at Bonny
Island in spite of Ojukwu's over-advertised bragging that "No power in Black
Africa can defeat Biafra" hordes of fleeing Biafran Soldiers poured into
Bodo-City and other towns and villages in the Ogoni country. The community became
another stronghold for Biafran counter-offensive and another tough war theatre,
because of the support the locals gave to Biafra forces and the activities of
the pro-Biafran guerrillas under the Ogoni Task Force (OTF) led by wealthy and
courageous soldier, major Patrick Tekuru Porobunu.
Bodo-City was a hard nut
to crack, but heroic Boro and his expeditionary forced captured the town after
deadly battles with Biafran forces. Isaac Adaka Boro had vowed after the exercise
to duplicate the tragic Asaba episode in Bodo-City. In Asaba town, in the capital
of Delta, because of the support of the people for Biafran soldiers during the
war, which made it extremely difficult for Adekunle and his men to capture the
town. When eventually the Federal troops under Adekunle seized it; he (Adekunle)
ordered the complete massacre of male children in the town. Hundreds of young
men were killed and their blood and lifeless bodies flew on the River Niger. It
was Ken Saro Wiwa, the martyred writer and minority rights crusader who saved
the Bodo-City and other Ogoni folks from Boro's proposed onslaught. He dissuaded
Boro from carrying out that Asaba episode in that Ogoni community. During the
war, Wiwa was the administrator of Bonny.
Towards mid 1967, though a lot of
the places around Port Harcourt sector and beyond had been conquered by the Federal
troops. However, there were still patches of die-hard Biafran soldiers who restored
to ambushes and insurgent activities to free themselves, in order to join up with
their military formations in Igbo heartland. A version of the story has it that
while Boro was on his why to Bodo-City. He saw a Biafran flag hoisted along the
Ogu water channel by unknown persons, in an attempt to get down from his engine
boat to remove it, he came under intense gunfire and died. Other sources argued
that the type of gunfire that erupted, which resulted into the death of Boro,
was completely different from what Biafran soldiers were known to use in that
sector of the war. This further strengthened the claim that one of the Federal
units carried out the ambush.
Major Isaac jasper Adaka Boro died in a mysterious
circumstance. Accusing fingers have been pointed at Col. Benjamin Adekunle over
Boro's death. One would expected him (Adekunle), to say something about Boro's
death, in that "his" book, The Nigeria Biafra War letters A soldier's
story (Vol. 1) Brig Benjamin Adekunle a.k.a the black scorpion, compiled and edited
by Abiodun A. Adekunle, (Adekunle's Son) USA, 2002.
A lot of Niger Delta militants
such as the detained Dokubo-Asari of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPVF)
and others, waging armed struggle in the region claim to derive inspiration from
the life and struggles of Boro.
Stop Press
This piece appeared in this column
under the title, "In Memoriam; Isaac Adaka Boro". The Midweek Telegraph,
May 11 17, 2005.
