This year’s Adaka Boro Day celebration will not be forgotten in a hurry. It was full of memorable occurences and reflections, reports MIKE ODIEGWU
The late Jasper Adaka Boro resurrected again on May 16. Every year, the icon of Ijaw struggle, the hero of the Niger Delta region and the foundation of self-determinism comes back to life. As he keeps dying and rising, hope for justice, equity and fair play shines like the morning sun in the physiognomical countenances of the restless Ijaw.
Yes. Boro rose this year, but not in the same manner he used to resurrect in his previous memorials. Maybe in the spirits of the time, this year’s celebration of Boro lacked the glamour, the glitz and attendance known with the annual ritual.
Notable dignitaries, including famous Ijaw leaders home and abroad avoided the event. There were no many speeches; seats of politicians who rode on the back of Boroism to become relevant were empty while no dinner not even the annual government organised lecture to advance the ideals of Boro were hosted.
The most significant absentee is the Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who, however, from the beginning of his administration never played with Boro. Last year, the governor bankrolled the exhuming of Boro’s remains in Lagos and all the expensive ceremonies that followed the state reburial of the Ijaw warrior at the Heroes Park, Yenagoa.
It was no longer the same this year. The governor seemed consumed with his reelection battle and preparations for the grand reception of President Goodluck Jonathan who has come under serious criticisms for never identifying with anything Boro. Though Dickson was physically absent, he was represented by his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd).
But the interventions of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide and the Timi Orus Foundation (TOF) saved the day. The Ijaw youths had earlier announced that all shops in Yenagoa should be closed in honour of Boro. Led by their President, Mr. Udens Eradiri and members of his Executive Council including the IYC Spokesperson, Mr. Eric Omare, the youths marched round the city in procession.
Decked in Boro’s crested t-shirts and brandishing items of Ijaw struggle, the youths in unison chanted solidarity songs. They were joined by the leaders of Igbo socio-cultural groups, Ohaneze Ndiigbo and the Ohaneze Youths Council (OYC).
But the procession almost snowballed into violence when in the name of “aiii Izon”, the youths bared their claws on eateries and shops whose owners failed to comply with the stay-at-home directive.
Fast food joints such as Pepperoni, Vincent and others contended with the anger of the youths. The youths threw caution into the wind as they rushed into the outlets to help themselves with food, drinks and other items. Some were said to have lifted generators during the procession.
While some persons condemned the action of the hyperactive youngsters saying it did not reflect the ideals of the hero they trooped out to celebrate, others insisted that the victims of the looting erred for not obeying the directive.
The procession, however, terminated at the Heroes Park, where a few dignitaries gathered to lay wreaths at the unfinished graveside of Boro. The youths added colour to the dry occasion. Esther, the first daughter of Boro and Boro’s younger brother, David, a seasoned scholar, were all in attendance. Also, the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Diete Spiff graced the occasion.
The deputy governor who represented Dickson, recalled that when Boro and his men took up arms to fight for justice he was at the sea fishing with his mother while Spiff was already established in the same sea commanding a naval ship. He said Boro’s life was short-lived but that he made significant impact in the lives of people.
He said: “It is not how long you spend on earth that makes you to be remembered this way, but the service you render to humanity. The service that you render towards people is what will determine how far your name will go. That is why he is remembered today and I am very happy”.
While commending the IYC for its roles in adding colour to the celebration, he said Boro was a non-nosense crusader of social justice. “When he (Boro) was asked why he left the police, he said, ‘My promotion depended on speaking the same language with the officer, I could not put up with the situation’.”
He added: “As a student leader, he was a politician, very adept one, who became the President of the Student Union Government from minority area for his sheer ingenuity, sheer courage and determination to serve.”
At the Boro’s tomb, Jonah lambasted lawmakers from the state who recently abandoned Jonathan for the All Progressive Congress (APC). As if invoking the spirit of Boro to go after them, the deputy governor said the defectors are not welcomed to Bayelsa.
He thundered: “For us in Bayelsa state we must use this as a rallying point. The signals are not very good. In my position I should be able to make reference to the happenings around us.
“Jesus told his disciple,’you will deny me three times’. About three weeks now, the denial has started. Those are not the example we want to see. As a people we must stand united no matter the case. That is the only way people can take us serious, that is the way people can call on us to work for them.
“Just because we lost at the national level,we have our people running to join other parties. It is utmost callousness. I don’t know how to describe how I feel as an Ijaw person. I implore all of us to use the life and death of Isaac Boro as a rallying point.
“The main beneficiaries of the system are the people abandoning our cause and joining to betray us. It is utmost callousness. By selling us out, l don’t think those people will ever have a say in this land”, he said.
He said the state government has shown commitment in honoring Ijaw heroes who died in the army. According to him, the remains of some of them such as Major Yerim, Captain Amangala and Captain Nottingham Dick had been identified and will soon be relocated to the Heroes Park.
On his part, Eradiri praised Boro for laying the foundation for the Ijaw struggle. “This struggle for justice and equality in Nigeria has led us to the point where we eventually produced the President, Goodluck Jonathan.
“We as Ijaw people look forward to welcoming Jonathan when he comes home.
In our own opinion, he did very well to address the issues and challenges that faced Nigeria”, he said.
He said after May 29, the Ijaw will begin a new phase of their struggle for justice in the Nigerian project.
He said: “If you follow our issues properly, our struggle is about the economic and political state in Nigeria. We have had our share in the political state,we want to focus on the economic state.
“A lot of our people have capacity to function properly in the oil sector and a lot of our people have been trained to be able to fend for themselves. Where we will be going from here is that you can no longer do business in the Niger Delta without employing our people. We will continue to train our people in universities in the Niger Delta to make them employable.
He said the IYC will no longer asked the incoming Federal Government not to scrap the Amnesty Programme. According to him sustaining the programme is a question of commonsense.
“History has it that once upon a time,oil production was as low as 500 barrels per day but with the amnesty programme that 500 barrels increased to 2.3 million barrels per day.
“It is only commonsense that will sustain a programme that the whole world has adjudged to be successful in other for business to be sweet on both sides. Our Niger Delta people should know that the incoming administration has very sound minds. They will not be bamboozled to take decisions that may lead to the economic breakdown of Nigeria”, he said.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Dr. Felix Tuodolor, whose office organized the celebration regretted that everything Boro fought against had remained the same.
“All the things he fought for are still the same, nothing has changed. During Boro’s time, there were environmental degradation, the Niger Delta people were marginalised and oppressed. Today, it is the same.
“Oil companies are still degrading our environment and our people are still oppressed and marginalised. Presidency has been taken away from us instead of allowing our people to rule for two terms because they believe we don’t deserve it”, he said.
One the celebration, he added: “The celebration of Isaac Boro is something we as the government has agreed we must do every year. When I went to London,we celebrated him first in London.
“We are saying that despite the fact that both America and London celebrate him, the bigger celebration must be in his homeland and we have gone a step further by bringing his body from Lagos to lie among his people.” On why Boro’s tomb had not been completed, he said: “We are still working on the design the architect brought. It is not just a grave,it is a monument that will tell the story of the struggle of the Niger Delta people. This project will be completed before the next anniversary.”
Foundation honours Boro
The foundation founded by Mr. Timi Orus, a philanthropist and businessman did what the government failed to do this year for Boro. The foundation for the first time organised an event titled, ” an Evening with Boro”, which featured a lecture and discussions from the audience.
Civil society groups led by Dr. Ekio Wilson, formed the brains behind the discussion. It was a different approach to Boroism. Instead of blaming outsiders for the woes and misfortunes of the Ijaw and the Niger Delta region, the discussants especially the Chairman of the occasion, Charles Ambayowei, cast aspersions on the leaders of the Ijaw race.
Everybody seemed to be in agreement that the leaders at different times failed to translate the ideals of Boro into economic and political realities. They rather display their egocentrism and insatiable appetite for acquisition of material things. Instead of protecting the Ijaw, they protect themselves and their families; instead of feeding the hoi polloi, they feed themselves and their families fat. They live in skyscrapers and drive innumerable exotic cars while people go to bed hungry.
Ambayowei spared no one. He said Boro rose against outsiders, but advised that the Ijaw should rise against insiders whose leadership has derailed. “Boro has become an idea. We call it Boroism. Boro represents justice, equality, development, direction and self-consciousness,” he said.
He, however, criticised the youths for going round Yenagoa to destroy things and to loot shops. He said the era of violent struggle had been replaced with intellectual agitation.
Also, David Boro who delivered a lecture titled, a Microcosmic of War, also took out time to lambast the youths for disrupting the peace in the name of his late night elder brother. He said: “Isaac Boro fought because that was the only available means. It was the only instrument of agitation that time. Must we continue to fight? Today, we have a state. What are we doing with it? We had Presidency for six years, what did we do?”
In his lecture, David advocated collective efforts in addressing societal injustices. He said when everybody rises many times to fight against injustice done to one or a group of person, the author of such injustice will tread with caution. But if people feel less concern because they are not direct victims, the frontiers of divide-and-rule will expand and injustices will continue.
He said: “The response demanded here is a structure in place to arrest and nip in the bud perceived acts of injustice done by egotists anywhere within the society. If no such structure exists, then injustice will invariably increase in the society.
“Unabated rise in the incidence of injustice induces alignments for collective action, that is people coming together to act together” he said.
The most cheering news for the evening, however, came when Timi Orus announced that the foundation will hold the event every year on the day of Boro memorial. He also promised to build a conference hall in Kaiama, Boro’s hometown where the event will hold from next year.
He said Boro was able to understand the significance of the Niger Delta struggle. Oru preached unity and condemned arrogance. He asked the people to identify true leaders who will champion the cause of the Ijaw and build a sustainable Bayelsa, the only homogenous state of the Ijaw Nation.
