BOOK REVIEW: Isaac Adaka Boro: The Unfinished Project: The Lion of the Niger Delta Vol 1.

Author: Professor Mondy S. Gold.

Year of Publication: 2025.

Pages: 374.

Publishers: NA.

Reviewer: Kabowei Akamande (Phone: 0703 846 3111; Email: oweiak@yahoo.com).

From 4th August 1967 to the Present

Unlike most agents of change, the Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro of History left a detailed account of himself in his autobiographical “The Twelve-Day Revolution.” From these memoirs we know he was born on 10th September 1938; executed his violent revolution and was condemned to death in 1966; released from the death row to life imprisonment in May 1967; and from life imprisonment to freedom on 4th August 1967.

There is no second guessing about his life between 10th September 1938 and 4th August 1967. What we cannot say for sure were his activities between 4th August 1967 and 18th May 1968 when he was assassinated. Professor Mondy S. Gold chronicles the unusual life of a highly evolved revolutionary he describes as “a man of absolutes.” The narrative rests on documented sources and human memory in filling the gap from 4th August 1967 to the present. He does a beautiful job admitting reliable sources like Esther Boro, David Boro, Omoyele Sowore, Chief (Dr) Bob Nabena, Professor Ambily Etekpe, etc.

With the publication of Gold’s “Isaac Adaka Boro: The Unfinished Project: The Lion of the Niger Delta: Vol 1,” expectations peaked that the whole truth about the assassination of this native son would finally be known. Unfortunately, such hope remains deferred as Gold, like other writers before him, appears to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. But Ijaws believe their son was assassinated to pave way for a post-war agenda that would see Ijaw territories that control 95% of Nigerian crude oil and 90% of the Atlantic coast balkanized and weakened to make their exploitation possible (p. 123). Any literature on Boro that fails to investigate his assassination, or indulges in a one-sided exercise by hearing only from former Nigerian officers without a balancing input from former Biafran officers, has told us nothing new.

What excites me about Gold’s book was seeing Forward 1 written by the wartime Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, General (Dr) Yakubu Gowon. Forward 3 is written by another war veteran, Brigadier General Godwin Alabi-Isama. As the Head of State, Gowon simultaneously superintended over the two British proxy wars against the Igbo-born Lt Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who led the separatist Biafran Republic and Ijaw-born Boro. The objective was to wrestle the Ijaw vast oil and gas fields from both Boro and Ojukwu.

Isama claims to be the last person Boro spoke to before being killed 30 minutes later. He admits to Edmund Obilo that Boro’s GOC, Col. Benjamin Adekunle, was on Away Without Leave, AWOL, the day Boro was killed but that the two of them- Isama and Adekunle, were communicating on a two-way 301 radio. The question begging for answer is how Adekunle could sneak off for medical treatment in an unknow hospital, whose location was unknown, without clearance from Lagos. Importantly, could Adekunle go AWOL on the very day the decisive battle for the liberation of Port Harcourt was to start? No GOC does that (see “The Fall of Biafra in the Atlantic Theatre: Isaac Boro, Battle for Oguta & Adekunle’s Deadly Orders:” https://youtu.be/9pH0CsAdNYs?si=VdtYn3_9CuoXq9qs Retrieved 19th March 2026).

Isama’s claims do not add up leaving one to configure what happened. In preparation for his revolution, Boro with Samuel Owonaru and a few others approached foreign embassies for support. Profilers at the MI6 (the UK’s foreign intelligence agency) could have warned that Boro was a greater evil than Ojukwu against the British interests in the Niger Delta: Before Ojukwu and Biafra, Boro and his Niger Delta Republic were. The latter’s ability to train 3000 Ijaw youths in his amphibious Sea School during the war could only mean he was surreptitiously preparing for an empire within an empire. Solution? Use Boro to defeat Ojukwu; then knock him off and the Ijaw resources are yours. Leave the details for Gowon and Adekunle. The burden is on Gowon to clear his name because Boro’s assassination was a war crime.

Ungrateful Ijaws

Gold must be credited as the first writer to draw attention to the unspeakable suffering of those the folk hero left behind. Economic frustration, for instance, drove Esther, Boro’s first daughter, into early marriage. As for Felix, Olubunmi and Deborah, Boro’s other kids, there is no record about their economic conditions in a 21st Century Ijawland saturated with tens of billions of naira every month from pipeline surveillance contracts. I am related to the Boros by marriage. I agree Boro’s children were neglected.

David, Boro’s junior brother and Head of the Boro Family, reveals that Boro’s widow and fatherless children were very much left to fend for themselves by Ijaw leaders. The exception was President Goodluck Jonathan whose fraternal creed of “No Boro should suffer” was faithfully implemented by Governors Seriake Dickson and Douye Diri. To David’s regrets that Boro died in vain, Gold sums:

One of the most emotionally resonant elements of David’s reflection is his acknowledgement of the “unwritten resolve of the people he died for not to fully rehabilitate the family.” This indictment of the Niger Delta people, for whom Isaac Boro gave his life, reveals the moral paradox inherent in nationalistic struggles. David articulates the painful reality that while the Niger Delta people have benefitted from Isaac’s sacrifices, his families continue to languish in neglect. (p.302).

The Great Ijaw Paradox

There is another paradox. In English there is a figure of speech called ellipsis, where you say something by not saying it. Elliptically, Gold confirms a latent conspiracy aimed at writing some canonical Ijaw nationalists out of relevance. Not once in his 374-page work did he mention Felix Tuodolo, Oronto Douglas and Joseph Evah. For instance, the Kaiama Declaration was written by Douglas and Isaac Osuaka but signed by Tuodolo and TK Ogoriba.

Evah tendered four petitions before the Oputa Commission on Human Rights Violation demanding/or claiming that (a) Gowon, Adekunle and Shell assassinated Boro (b) President Olusegun Obasanjo be tried for genocide against Odi people (c) Compensation for families of 25 Ijaw soldiers killed in the Okar’s coup, and (d) Oil firms to pay Ijaws Eight Hundred Trillion Dollars for environmental damage. Oputa said the petition on Boro’s death was too dangerous and threw it out (see Banner News, April 9-18, 2001, front page). The indomitable Evah fought back in the High Court.

There is erasure in Gold’s rendition of the resistance historiography (pp.21-22); omitting Henry Emomotimi Okah, the “General Master” of the “warriors.” It is selective morality celebrating Boro while disclaiming Okah. I call that the Great Ijaw Paradox.

An Inverted Struggle

The author sounds the alarm that post-Amnesty Niger Delta struggle is seriously degraded by the establishment. By promoting a few warlords who serve as safety valve against wide-spread anger, Nigeria has succeeded in reducing the Boro legacy to an inverted struggle, akin to the mythical ouroboros, that devours itself while leaving intact the status quo:

In recent years, the Nigerian government, perhaps uncomfortable with dealing with decentralized, highly formidable, and amorphous militant groups, has pivoted towards a new approach: the promotion of identifiable warlords…. By elevating select militant leaders to positions of influence and granting them state-sanctioned security contracts, such as oil and gas pipeline surveillance, the government has effectively transformed erstwhile agitators into custodians of the very infrastructure they once sought to dismantle…. In this calculated gambit, the federal government has weakened the collective leverage of Niger Delta agitators, diffusing their revolutionary fervour while maintaining the uninterrupted flow of crude oil, the lifeblood of Nigeria’s economy (p.24).

Botched Proofreading

That Gold quoted Sowore’s statement of June 30, 2024 (p.166), while his work was published the following 2025, is an indication he rushed the publication of his manuscript. It shouldn’t be so because his prodigious work is defective as it suffers “familiarity blindness” in editing. It is a cognitive phenomenon where a writer – even professional proofreaders are susceptible to this trick of the mind – fails to detect errors in a text because they are too familiar with its content. Akachi Ezeigbo cautions patience and due process the moment a manuscript is completed:

You see, writing is not all about producing a manuscript and rushing to the publisher or the printing press to print it out. There is a kind of programme that any work must pass through for it to come out well…. Overseas they have literary agents and editors before the publisher comes in…. But when you just produce a manuscript this year, and you are in too much of a hurry, three months you go and print it, no matter how talented you are, that book will suffer some disadvantages (Chuks Oluigbo’s “Keeping Hope Alive for Younger Nigerian Writers,” Businessday, November 23, 2014).

For Gold’s work to become the envisaged “comprehensive and globally available book about Major Boro” (p.270), which it credibly and amply qualifies for, these disadvantages must be corrected before the publication of the second edition:

One, the writer cited over twenty sources without footnotes, endnotes and bibliography. This leaves Gold on thin ice if researchers cannot verify sources of his materials. His Index is not properly catalogued alphabetically, also.

Two, the Table of Contents is problematic. Consisting of sixteen chapters, the work is yoked with an over-bloated 217 subheadings: some no more than paragraphs of six lines. It is recommended that the 16 chapters be retained without subheadings.

Three, story lines in (a) The 3rd paragraph of page 43 is repeated on the 1st paragraph of page 176. (b) The 4th and 5th paragraphs of page 62 are repeated on 4th and 5th paragraphs of page 84. (c) Paragraphs 2-6 of page 64 are repeated verbatim in paragraphs 4-6 of page 85 and paragraphs 1-2 of page 86 while paragraphs 1-4 of page 65 are repeated verbatim in paragraphs 3-5 of page 86. (d)”Port Harcourt High Court: A Defining Moment of Courage and Values,” on pages 73 and 74 is repeated on pages 74 and 75. (e) Similar repetitions abound elsewhere.

Four, the following words could have been used once with their synonyms substituting: Intersection, pivotal, nuanced, poignantly, resonates, testament, tapestry and resonance.

Five: Esther and David Boro’s interviews are abridged and episodic. This makes it difficult for the reader to get the big picture. It is recommended the author publishes these interviews in full in the second edition as they portray the authentic Boro and his family circumstances not recorded elsewhere.

Conclusion

“Isaac Adaka Boro: Vol. 1” is relevant in understanding what to avoid in deescalating militancy in Ijawland and the larger Niger Delta. Written in flawless English, students, researchers, the diplomatic corps, Nigerian authoritative agencies and the global audience will gain immense insight into the volatile Niger Delta oil politics. For instance, it makes sense recalling Boro’s rebellion was not against the Nigeria state but the oppressive Igbo-dominated government of the old Eastern Region. Today, Ijaws and Igbos are reconciled as demonstrated by the massive support Igbos gave the Ijaw-born President Jonathan in 2011 and 2015.

But all the conditions that provoked Boro into taking up arms are here in 2026; this time being perpetuated by the Yoruba/Hausa/Fulani-dominated Federal Government. Developmental infrastructures are built and modernized all over Nigeria except in Ijaw territories (p. 345). The Ruling Trinity has also refused to create Toru Ebe and Oil Rivers States for Ijaws, not minding our overwhelming contribution to the national economy. The morale of Gold’s work is that Ijaw exclusion is a catalyst for another round of armed struggle, Boro 3.0. Henry Okah being Boro 2.0.

Akamande is Leader of Thought of Izon Ebe.