If one asks Nigerians to name the first secessionist in Nigeria’s history, many will mention Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of the Biafra group.

Ojukwu is remembered for leading the people of the southeastern region and some parts of the south-south who decried marginalisation to secede from Nigeria.

A year before Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra in 1967, someone else had threatened to break a region away from Nigeria.

This person was Isaac Adaka Boro. To some, he was just an Ijaw man who wanted to liberate his people.

But Boro was more than that.

He was a soldier and activist renowned for championing the rights of minority ethnic groups, particularly the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta.

Boro advocated for resource control and regional autonomy, laying the groundwork for subsequent movements in the Niger Delta region.

Boro’s 12-day war

Born on September 10, 1938, in Oloibiri in present-day Bayelsa State, Boro, the son of a school headteacher, grew up to be the voice of the people of the Niger Delta.

At the time, the people of the Niger Delta, like the Igbos, decried exploitation and marginalisation and wanted control of their oil resources.

In response to this, Boro formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), an armed militia primarily composed of Ijaw youths.

On February 23, 1966, Boro initiated a rebellion against the Nigerian federal government by declaring the Niger Delta Republic.

This republic was, however, short-lived.

Many historians refer to it as the Twelve-Day Revolution.

Boro was tried for treason and sentenced to death by the military government. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Luck shone on him on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 when General Yakubu Gowon granted him amnesty and commissioned him as a Major in the Nigerian Army.

Fighting against Ojukwu

As a soldier, Boro fought on the side of the federal government against Ojukwu during the Civil War.

Some reports note that he played a key role in the federal offensive that recaptured strategic areas like Port Harcourt and other parts of the Eastern Region.

He died two years before the war ended.

Many controversies surround his death. Till date, no one knows what or who killed Boro.