Many Nigerians believe that the first secessionist Nigeria ever experienced, was Odumegwu Ojukwu when he declared the State of Biafra in 1967. However, before Ojukwu was Adaka Isaac Boro (1938_1968), who had declared the Niger Delta republic in 1966.
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Adaka Boro was initially an undergraduate student of chemistry and the student Union leader of the university of Nigeria Nsukka. However, he left school to lead an armed protest against the exploitation of oil from the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
According to him, the oil exploitation benefitted the federal government and the eastern regional government whose capital is located in Enugu. In his opinion, a larger share of the proceeds of the oil should be given to the people of the Niger Delta because the oil was drilled from their region.
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Adaka Boro then formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, which was made up of people of the Ijaw ethnic group and declared the Niger Delta Republic in February 1966. Boro and his men fought the federal troops for 12 days, but were later defeated and captured by the military, under the military governor of Aguiyi Ironsi, who sentenced them to death for treason.
Before Adaka Boro took up arms against the federal military government, his father, who was an educated man, had earlier beckoned on him to accept his offer of sponsorship to study in an abroad university. However, the young Boro rejected the offer from his father and went on to fight the federal government.
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His father later went on to fight on the side of Nigeria during the Nigeria civil war, but he later died in May 1968 of unknown circumstances in Ogu, Rivers State.
Finally, the purpose of this article is to educate the public and for reference, and not to create disunity or division among Nigerians. Therefore, I urge the readers to read for knowledge and reference.
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