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By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
There was traffic gridlock in parts of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Wednesday, as a crowd of Ijaw youths marched through the major roads in the city to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of their hero, Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro.
Major Boro, an Ijaw freedom fighter, died on May 16, 1968 during the Nigeria Civil War.
Clad in white and chanting Ijaw heroic songs, in a march that began from the Carniriv Centre on Aggrey Road and led to the Isaac Boro cenotaph, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), in collaboration with other Ijaw groups, paid their respects to a hero who lost his life in the course of defending his people.
They stopped at the gate of the Rivers State Government House, where Governor Nyesom Wike and some members of his cabinet received them.
The governor commended them for their peaceful disposition and promised to partner with them in building a better society.
Addressing newsmen later, chairman of IYC, Eastern Zone, Comrade Sammy George, described this year’s Isaac Boro Remembrance Day as unique, and attributed its success to the unity among Ijaws in Nigeria and in the Diaspora.
He said the Ijaws are not relenting in their demand for resource control, adding that justice shall prevail in their quest to control their God-given resources.
Comrade George assured that IYC would soon embark on clan to clan sensitization which would further place Ijaw youths in the right direction.
In his speech, popular Niger Delta freedom fighter, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of disrespecting the rights of Ijaws. He declared that no one can rig elections in Ijaw land, adding that Ijaws would resist any attempt by Buhari and his cohorts to deceive them again.
Asari appealed to Governor Wike to address the issue of under-development in Ijaw areas of Rivers State, noting that any leader that has the interest of Ijaws would earn their support.
Bristol Alagbariya Emmanuel, past national secretary-general of IYC, stressed that the agitation for resource control, bequeathed to the youths by the founding fathers, would be given utmost priority, adding that the federal government must respect the rights of Ijaw people.
He applauded the unification of all the zones, including the Special Chapter covering Ahaoda West, Abua/Odual, Ogbogolo, among others.
Bristol said: “History has just given us the opportunity to reminisce and retrospect the lives and times of the man called Adaka Boro and the values and philosophy he stood for. We as youths are holding those values strongly. Posterity will not forgive us if we betray the struggle.”
Chairman, Special Chapter of IYC, Sokari Goodboy, said the Ijaws had set a pace for restructuring in Nigeria, and expressed their desire to collaborate with the Eastern Zone. He called on the oil multinationals to quickly relocate to the Niger Delta region to create enabling peace and stabilize the community-company social responsibility.
