Reflections Without Mirror : Is Secession The Answer to Nigeria’s Problem– Part 2
This is part 2 of the piece published on 24.05.2024
The Biafran army was taken by surprise by this great military deception used by Boro. Isaac Boro was at home in the swamps with his men, who had been trained to walk swiftly on swamps. This well trained army inflicted heavy blows on the Biafran’s army from the rear. Isaac Boro had captured one government Ferry intact at Opobo rivers and had his well trained 3000 Ijaws men behind him, who constituted the majority of his brigade. They were all expert swimmers and provided invaluable assistance in the war efforts to capture Portharcourt within 30 days, a distance of about 380 kilometres. Isaac Boro continued his attack into James Town, where he managed to pass through the most difficult and what appeared to be impregnable marshy creek. With his experience and determination, he successfully guided the federal troops landing at Oron. He was a magnificent officer, a genuine warrior, he fought gallantly until that fateful morning when Port harcourt was to be captured.
A meeting of senior officers were arranged that morning of 09.05.1968 to prepare for their entry to Port harcourt. They all had breakfast together. Those who were in attendance were Lt Col Ayo Ariyo, Abubakar Aliyu, Eromobor and Alabi Isama – the author of ‘Tragedy of Victory’. I have read his faithful account and according to Alabi Isama, Isaac Boro was returning from the meeting of the ” O” group at Eletu Eleme, when he was shot by a Biafran soldier who was hiding in an empty house and had only one bullet on his outdated rifle.
Whilst I believe the faithful account of Alabi Isama on the death of Isaac Boro, there were many people who saw Boro’s death as suspicious with the belief that it was a set up by the federal government. The relevant question asked by these groups of people was that since Isaac Boro was a ‘Major’ in the army, he could not have travelled alone without his batman or his own personal guards. Why would he be the one to check on the house and not his guards? His death has created a conondrum and mystery that has never been solved to date. It is believed in some quarters that Boro was merely used to help the federal side to win the area of the Niger Delta and also to create a sense of belonging to the Niger Deltans so as to ostracise Biafra completely. The entering of Portharcourt had crystallised his achievement, and he should be dispensed with. It appeared that his fate had been sealed from the beginning of his release from prison. The Federal Government under Gowon just veiled the deception in a mysterious way.
Isaac Boro was killed on 9 May 1968, the day the Federal Government took Portharcourt. Boro was just 29 years old when he was murdered. He left 3 children behind. Nothing was paid to the family of Isaac Boro. His children were not compensated in any way. The argument of the Federal Government was that Isaac Boro was not a regular soldier as he was not formally enlisted into the Nigerian army
The promise made by the federal government to Isaac Boro as to the development of Niger Delta was quickly a forgotten matter after the war. Promise made before the war was null and void after the war and Isaac Boro was no longer alive to hold them accountable. His reason for the declaration of secession was very clear, his people were marginalised, and the environmental degradation by the Shell PLC must stop. He was an inspiration to Ken Saro Wiwa and Asari Dokubo also claimed to have been inspired by him. Ken Saro Wiwa led the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People. He led a non- violent campaign against the environmental destruction of the Ogoni land . Under the instruction of Shell PLC, the Military Government headed by late Junta, General Sanni Abaca made a false allegation of murder of Ogoni Chiefs
against Ken Saro Wiwa and other 8 Ogoni men. They were tried by a kangaroo Trubunal and sentenced to death. They were hanged on 10 November 1995. As at today,the Federal Government are indeed paying 13 percent derivation funds to the Delta Regions and yet the place remain pauprised. The successive governors are not making the desire progress nor fulfilling the yearnings of the people of the regions. Would it have been different if they are sovereign country. I doubt it, with the calibre of people that have been ruling them as governors since, perhaps, it could have been worse. Though on his own, if Isaac Boro had been successful, the story would have been different. He had a genuine vision for the Republic and staked his life for it. Adieu Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro.
I have written on the Declarationn of Secession of Biafra by Col. Chuwkuemeka Odunegwu OJUKWU in my book ‘ Col. Victor Banjo — a Revolutionary Betrayed. There is no need to repeat it here and so I will now proceed to discuss the declaration of Major Gideon Orkar in 1990.
Major Gideon Orkar led a faction of the Nigerian Army on 22 April 1990 to topple the Military Government of Nigeria under General Ibrahim Babangida, the self styled president also known as ‘ evil genius’ or Maradona
Gideon Orkar was born—-To be continued
Niyi Aborisade is a lawyer, a human rights activists and a historian
