I.Y.C Promises to Pursue Adaka Boro’s Struggle Intellectually
By: Odeya Ogbetuo
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) from Western Zone, comprising Delta, Edo and Ondo State converged in Warri to mark the 57th Boro Day with a promise to continue the struggle intellectually.
The gathering was designed to commemorate the 12 Days Revolution Struggle led by Isaac Adaka Boro popularly known as “Boro Day”.
Addressing the large turn-out of Ijaws in Warri, the Administrator Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) Chief Dr. Dennis Otuaro said that Isaac Boro remains the symbol of their struggle which they will continue to re-enact.
Dr. Otuaro said that the Ijaws should be vigilant and protect their land, adding that the time we are now is the use of intellectual struggle to achieve our aims.
“I was a product of the struggle and many of us will benefit if we organize ourselves to achieve a target. We should also love our neighbours and maintain peace in the Niger Delta. We need the cooperation of everybody to sustain peace and development of the Niger Delta region.”
He stated, Isaac Adaka Boro has made the Ijaws and the Niger Delta proud. “Adaka Boro has made us proud by carrying out a revolution which drew the attention of the Nigerian Government and the world to the plights of the minority particularly the Ijaws of the Niger Delta.”
The Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone, Comrade Nicholas Igarama said they gathered to celebrate the life and times of Isaac Jaspa Adaka Boro, a Pathfinder and Founder of the Ijaw struggle, adding that he confronted the forces that threatened the survival and existence of the Ijaw people.
He stated that Boro was a man who embodied empathy and understood the needs of the Ijaw people to the extent that he took up arms against the Federal government to liberate his people from environmental degradation, economic exploitation and political marginalization.
Igarama lamented that despite Boro’s revolutionary efforts, the Ijaw people are still grappling with similar challenges decades later.
“We are still behind the expectations of our hero,” he declared. “Boro started his agitation in his early twenties and declared the Niger Delta Republic at 27. He died at 29. That should challenge every Ijaw’s youth today to rise beyond rhetoric and start taking bold steps.”
Igarama also took aim at what he described as attempts to alter political realities in Warri Federal Constituency, according to him, the Ijaws remain the clear majority.
“We will not accept falsehoods from those who claim otherwise,” he stated. The recent INEC ward delineation exercise has laid bare the truth. We shall resist all attempts to suppress our rightful place in Warri.”
The IYC leader accused some interest groups of resorting to violence and arming themselves in frustration, warning that Ijaw youths would not be intimidated.
“Boro feared no one, not even the government. We too will stand our ground as a peaceful but courageous people,” he added.
Igarama further urged federal and state interventionist agencies such as the NDDC, DESOPADEC, EDSOPADEC, and ONSOPADEC not to politicize development in Ijaw communities. He listed several long-abandoned projects, including the Abari Bridge, Patani–Kumbo–Udofori Road, Ayakoromo Bridge, and Ogulagha–Odimodi Road in Delta State, as well as roads and infrastructure in Edo and Ondo Ijaw areas.
