Niger Delta
ISAAC BORO DAY: BOROTITUDE IS MORE PROFITABLE.
By Tobouke JEMINE
As we look forward to celebrating another Isaac Adaka Boro Day, I feel a compulsion to share some thoughts with the blessed people of Ijaw Nation.
We love Boro Day, and we appreciate the gratitude behind this annual event. It is great that we are keeping the Lamp of Isaac Boro burning. It is a good tradition.
All developing nations have special days in honour of their heroes and heroines, like the Martin Luther king Day, Mahatma Gandhi Day (Gandhi Jayanti), Nelson Mandela International Day, and a host of others.
So it’s great we have Boro Day in Ijawland. We must never refrain from marking Boro Day. But we need to grow in our individual and national gratitude to Boro and other genuine leaders of the Ijaw Struggle, living or dead.
A day or a brick in honour of a hero is good, but living out the precepts of the hero is better and more profitable.The greatest gratitude we can show to Boro is for us to pursue and achieve the ideals he strove for.
The ideals Boro spoke of, the noble causes he fought and died for, should be pursued with the highest level of honesty and genuineness by the Ijaw National Congress, Ijaw Youth Council and other human and environmental rights organizations in Ijaw Nation.
As long as the political autonomy, economic liberty, environmental remediation, state creation and infrastructural development he agitated and died for are not sincerely expressed through our lips and strategically and consistently pursued with our feet, our gratitude to Boro and his likes is incomplete.
As long as being ungrateful to our genuine leaders, treacherous to our land and commercializing our birthrights for personal aggrandizement is still part and parcel of us, we are mocking the wisdom behind the ideals Boro and his comrades stood for.
As long as we are not extending posthumous thankfulness to our martyrs, departed heroines and heroines by immortalizing them, and by morally and physically supporting their wives, children,relations and communities — just as King David did to the son and house of his friend Jonathan in the Scriptures — we are not fulfilling the righteousness of the Ijaw Struggle.
Ijaw Nation needs to grow in her gratitude to Isaac Adaka Boro and his likes.
It is touching to hear the first daughter of Isaac Boro lamenting that with her father’s name she “CAN KNOCK AT ANY DOOR AND ONE WILL ENTER. AFTER THE KNOCKING, I DON’T THINK MUCH HAPPENS. I DO NOT GET FAVOURS BECAUSE OF MY FATHER’S NAME.”
Further she said, “IMAGINE CELEBRATING BORO AND I AM TAKING A TRICYCLE (keke) TO ATTEND THE CELEBRATION. AND THE DAY THEY CELEBRATE HIM, THERE WILL BE NO SEATS FOR MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY EVEN IF TO AT LEAST HONOUR THEM ON THAT DAY. RATHER, ALL THE SO-CALLED BIG PEOPLE WILL SIT AT THE FRONT AND THE FAMILY WILL BE PUSHED BEHIND. IS THAT A CELEBRATION…?”
And this daughter of our national martyr struggled to attain education. Taking proper care of his family was Boro’s dignified responsibility until he chose the Fidel Castros as role models for the sake of the oppressed peoples of the Niger Delta. The children, widows or family of such men deserve to be treated like treasures.
Ijaw nation should commit as moral and caring surrogates to the families of our martyrs and departed heroes. We should value and care for such sacrifices when they are alive, and when they leave the mortal stage, we should embalm their mortality with immortality.
Thanks to Governor Seriake Dickson for the reburial of Boro in Ijaw Heroes Park nearly a half century later and for appointing Esther Boro as Special Assistant on Health; thanks to ‘General’ Endurance Amagbein who destroyed the crumbling house of Boro and spent millions of naira to turn it to an architectural wonder.
Necessary it is to emphasize here that, we should be our brother’s keeper in Ijawland. We should be there for one another. That is the fastest route to our collective freedom and development.
If any of our active citizens or patriots happen to run for political office, we should not hesitate to endorse him and vote for him; if they beat the gong, we should show up; if they are persecuted for the cause of justice, we should stand up and step out to defend them; if they are confined to the four walls of prison for our sake, we should pay them visit, and if the need arises, stage protest against their incarceration in adherence to Satyagraha.
If any of our sincere leaders is witch-hunted be the Nigerian system or martyred, we should clone his responsibilities to his family. It must never be on record that in their hours of adversity or need, our moral and material support was found wanting — that we denied and deserted them like the ‘unHolyGhostized’ disciples of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Our homes, families and friends will take to demotivating Active Patriotism if we don’t appreciate, honour and support our Patriots and their Families, especially in their moments of needs.
For, “A people who do not know how to show gratitude cannot expect sacrifices”, says Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Maybe this is part of the reasons we are still in the wilderness.
Let’s acknowledge that, for us to reach the altitude of freedom, Borotitude must be our attitude.
©12/05/2024
Burutu LGA
KOU DELTA COMMUNITIES CALL ON BRITANNIA-U NIGERIA LIMITED TO DO THE NEEDFUL OVER THE DRILLING PLATFORM FIRE ACCIDENT
PRESS RELEASE
July 23, 2024
KOU DELTA COMMUNITIES CALL ON BRITANNIA-U NIGERIA LIMITED TO DO THE NEEDFUL OVER THE DRILLING PLATFORM FIRE ACCIDENT
We, the Leadership of Kou Delta communities express our deep grief over the explosion touching a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel operated by the indigenous oil and gas company, Britinna-U Nigeria Limited, at the Ajapa Marginal Oil Field on July 18, 2024.
We believe that whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other. Hence we sincerely extend our sympathy with the management and staff of Britannia-U Nigeria Limited for the huge financial losses incurred by the destroyed vessel and spilled crude oil.
Meanwhile, as Leaders of the Kou Delta communities, We are saddled with the uncompromising responsibility of seeing to the well-being and welfare of our communities and our common environment. It is on this ground that We are calling the attention of the Management of Britannia-U Nigeria Limited to the devastating impacts of the oil spillage on our local economies.
It is very unfortunate that the environmentally hazardous content of the exploded vessel is increasingly flowing through our sources of livelihoods, our rivers creeks, streams, ponds, and forests, wrecking havoc on our local means of survival and sustainance. Our fishing nets, hooks, lines, cages, etc. have all been rendered useless by this sad accident.
Our communities in Kou Delta, Burutu Local Government of Delta State, affected by this devastating explosion include:
1. Agge Okibou Community
2. Youtu Community
3. Okibou-Zion Community
4. Okofa-Aka Community
5. Okia Community
6. Kare-Epere Community
7. Belle Community
Other Kou Delta communities adversely affected include:
8. Iyanmenegbene
9. Selegbene
10. Atalegbene
11. Amos-Daugbene
12. Iselemoseigbene
13. Owologbene
14. Ogodo-Igbagbene
15. Igbepou
We therefore call upon the Management of Britannia-U Nigeria Limited, the Burutu Local Government Council, the Delta State Government, the DESOPADEC, the NDDC and the Federal Government to start by making provision of relief items and materials to assist our People until our economic water bodies, shores, banks, meadows and forests are resurrected and become healthy for fishing and farming activities to recommence.
And of ultimate importance is the unavoidable commitment of Britannia-U to be swift and humane enough to:
i. Deploy Safety Team to contain the unabating spread of the crude liquid gold into our ocean, rivers, creeks, streams, etc.
ii. Clean up our waterways of the liquid mess so that natural aquatic lives and aquatic vehicles could be revived, restored and resume work.
iii. Provide just and fair compensation to the communities and families that are adversely affected by this explosion.
We equally want to, again, use this opportunity to call on the oil companies operating in our seas, rivers, creeks, forests and lands to employ standard environmental health practices in their economic interactions with the resources of our environment, so that ugly, sad and preventable occurrences such as this could be prevented.
Signed:
Chief Patrick Irou,
National Chairman, Kou Delta
Comr. Obed Tomone,
Secretary General, Kou Delta
IduwiniVoice
THE MEETING OF GREAT MINDS: DR OTUARO VISITS COMR. EVAH
By Tobouke JEMINE
Chief Dennis Brutu Otuaro, Ph.D., the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), recently met with the renowned Niger Delta activist Comr Joseph Evah in Lagos. The meeting was aimed at addressing the region’s socio-economic challenges and advance peace initiatives.
The discussion centered on the progress of the PAP, which focuses on rehabilitating and reintegrating ex-agitators from the Niger Delta into society. Chief Otuaro reaffirmed his dedication to the program’s objectives and emphasized the importance of collaboration with stakeholders like Mr. Evah for sustainable development and peace.
Joseph Evah expressed support for the PAP and discussed areas needing improvement, stressing grassroots involvement, transparency, and accountability. Both leaders recognized the challenges in the Niger Delta, such as environmental degradation, unemployment, and underdevelopment. They agreed on the necessity of a collaborative approach involving government agencies, community leaders, and activists.
The meeting concluded with a mutual commitment to continue working towards transforming the Niger Delta into a region of peace, prosperity, and progress.
IduwiniVoice
NDDC CHAIRMAN, EBIE CALLS FOR UNITY, STAKEHOLDERS SUPPORT AT N’DELTA SUMMIT
By Tobouke JEMINE
Yesterday, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission Governing Board has called for unity and stakeholder support during the Niger Delta Stakeholders Pre-Summit Technical Session.
He emphasized that the summit is a crucial opportunity for transformative change in the region, urging participants to approach it with seriousness, creativity, and a collective spirit.
The session served as a precursor to the main summit, aiming to tackle the region’s challenges and explore its opportunities. Ebie’s rallying cry has set high expectations for a productive and impactful summit.