HISTORY MUST BE TOLD COMPLETELY, NOT SELECTIVELY

HISTORY MUST BE TOLD COMPLETELY, NOT SELECTIVELY

HISTORY MUST BE TOLD COMPLETELY, NOT SELECTIVELY

Some people keep recycling the claim that “Isaac Adaka Boro was arrested by Ojukwu and sentenced to death by Igbo men, yet Ojukwu later declared Biafra.” This argument is either rooted in ignorance or driven by deliberate misrepresentation.

Isaac Adaka Boro was NOT arrested by Ojukwu. In 1966, Ojukwu was not Nigeria’s Head of State and had no judicial authority. Boro was arrested, tried, and sentenced by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria, not by “Igbo people” as an ethnic group. Reducing state actions to ethnicity is intellectually dishonest.

Boro was sentenced under a united Nigerian state, not under an “Igbo government.” General Aguiyi-Ironsi acted strictly as Nigeria’s Head of State, enforcing Nigerian law on treason. Ironically, that same Nigerian state later supervised the mass killings of Igbos across Northern Nigeria. To therefore argue that Ironsi acted in Igbo ethnic interest is false and misleading.

Now let me ask the question some of my Ijaw brothers consistently avoid: why did Isaac Adaka Boro abandon the Niger Delta struggle after his release?

If he truly believed in an independent Niger Delta, why was the Niger Delta Republic never revived? Why did he suddenly begin defending One Nigeria? Why did he fight against Biafra instead of demanding self-determination for his own people?

The answer is simple but uncomfortable. The Niger Delta Republic struggle was largely fueled by resentment and Northern political influence, with the strategic aim of destabilising the Eastern Region, which at the time was the most progressive region in Nigeria. Once that mission was achieved, the struggle was abandoned, and Boro was repurposed to fight aggressively against Biafra—even though a significant number of his own people were part of the Biafran project.

Boro was released by Gowon for political reasons, not out of love for the Niger Delta. The Northern establishment needed him as a tool to undermine Eastern self-determination, divide minorities from the Eastern Region, and promote the deceptive narrative that “One Nigeria” was good for everyone.

Today, what did that alliance give the Niger Delta? No republic. No control of oil resources. Environmental destruction. Continued marginalisation.

Contrast that with Ojukwu, who declared Biafra and stood by it until the end—losing power, property, and comfort, but never abandoning his cause. History does not respect convenience; history respects consistency.

This is not Igbo vs Ijaw.
This is truth vs selective memory.

Tell the full story.