The nation woke up one morning in February to hear of secession. The late Isaac Boro of the minority Ijaw ethnic group, ex-policeman, ex-University student, had declared the Niger Delta Republic and had taken up arms against
his fatherland. Most people in the โSouthโ assumed that this was part of the proposed NNA coup which had been foiled by the military take-over. It was said openly that the idea was to plant a war of secession in the Niger Delta area, and to use this as a pretext for Sir Abubakarโs government to declare a State of Emergency in the East and arrest NCNC leaders there. However, the coup having happened, Isaac Boro was loath to cancel plans which had taken months to prepare.
In his posthumously-published book, The Twelve-Day Revolution (Idodo Umeh Publishers, Benin, 1982), he states:
๐ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐ข ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐๐ง ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต.
The aim of his โrevolutionโ, he claims, was:
โฆ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐ข ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ด๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ญ๐บ-๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข. ๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐ข ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต.
His editor, Tony Tebekaemi, asserts in a forward to the book that his action was โfarcical recklessnessโ and his efforts โsinisterly bewildering to his people.โ
The Ironsi regime moved in against Boro and quickly captured him before more harm could be done. The Eastern Nigerian High Court tried and sentenced him to death for treason. Ironsi had shown that his regime could maintain law and order.
PHOTO Credit: Late ex-convict Isaac Boro