Samuel Oyadongha
16 May 2012, Sweetcrude, Yenagoa – The Ijaw nation yesterday converged at Kaiama in the Kolokuma-Opokuma local government area of Bayelsa State to commemorate this year Isaac Day celebration insisting that there is no going back on what it described as its legitimate clamour for true federalism and resource control.
Governor Seriake Dickson who led other prominent Ijaws drawn from Delta, Edo, Rivers, Ondo and Akwa Ibom among them former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, pioneer Ijaw National Congress President, Joshua Fumudoh to lay wreath at the tomb of the late Isaac Boro said the demand for resource control and true federalism has assumed a more sophisticated intellectual dimension and reiterated the unwavering commitment of the Ijaw nation to Boro’s vision.
“The history of the struggle for true federalism, resource control, implementation and respect for the principle of derivation and the struggle and contradiction of the Nigerian state, these were the issues that pushed Isaac Boro and his colleagues at that very tender age to be involved in what has become known as 12 days revolution.
“It is a very essential part of the Nigeria history, so we are here again to remind ourselves of the contribution of Boro and his colleagues. We as Ijaw people believe in true federalism, we believe in resource control and we believe that we should have the freedom to control our resources and direct our pace of development and be in charge of our destiny as a nation. That is what we stand for and that is what our mentor Isaac Boro fought for and ultimately paid the supreme sacrifice,” Dickson said.
The governor who paid glowing tribute Boro while marking the 44 anniversary of his death at his grave side at Kaiama said his death would not be complete if youths of the state are not properly educated and empowered to liberate themselves from the shackle of poverty.
“If the youths are not properly educated and empowered, Isaac Boro fights and struggles will be incomplete,” he said adding that the struggle by Boro is not yet finished in Ijaw nation as the state government would employ intellectual revolution to continue the struggle and not declaring 12 days revolution against government.
Dickson used the occasion to announce the stoppage of the celebration of Boro’s day abroad, declaring that the Ijaws can not celebrate Isaac Boro death without laying the wreath at his graveside.
Dickson thanked the family of the hero for giving to the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta a brave man like late Isaac Boro and insisted that Isaac Boro day would only be celebrated in Kaiama his home town and not abroad any more.
He lauded Ijaws who came from far and near for identifying with the celebration, describing Bayelsa State as the heart of Ijaw nation and urged youths of Ijaw nation to support and partner with President Goodluck Jonathan to fix the country.
In his speech, Chairman, Isaac Adaka Boro Remembrance Committee, 2012, Brigadier Gen Maxwell Appah, (rtd) said Boro died to liberate the suffering people of Niger Delta from injustice and called on the state government to immortalize him by constructing Isaac Boro resource centre to enhance researches on the late icon.
The chairman called for the documentation of the life and time of the fallen hero for posterity and for the building of a library and 500 capacity conferences in honour of the departed hero.
