Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF)
and led an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria, declaring
the Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966. He had previously been an
undergraduate student of chemistry and student union president at the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but he left school to lead the rebellion.
His group protested against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta areas which benefitted mainly the Federal Government of Nigeria and a remote Eastern Nigeria regional government. Major General Aguiyi Ironsi, the Head of State of Nigeria ordered that Boro should be arrested by any means possible.
The NDVF battled the Federal forces for twelve days but were finally routed by the far superior Federal firepower. Boro and his compatriots were jailed for treason. However, the federal regime of General Yakubu Gowon granted him amnesty on the eve of the Nigerian civil war in May 1967. He then enlisted and was commissioned as a major in the Nigerian army. He fought on the side of the Federal Government but was killed under mysterious circumstances in active service in 1968 at Ogu (near Okrika) in Rivers State, after successfully liberating the Niger Delta from the rebel Biafran Forces.
0 comments:
Post a Comment