The Western Zone of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), comprising Delta, Edo, and Ondo States, on Friday, in Warri, Delta State, remembered civil war hero and pioneer leader of minority rights activism in the Niger Delta, late Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro.

Speaking during a well-attended 57th Boro Day commemoration, the Chairman of the IYC Western Zone, Comrade Nicholas Igarama, described Boro as a rare revolutionary who laid down his life in defence of the Ijaw people and the Niger Delta at large.

He urged Ijaw youths to draw renewed inspiration from the fearless legacy of the late Major Boro as they confront growing political and developmental injustices in the region.

“We gather here not just to celebrate, but to reflect deeply on the vision, boldness, and sacrifices of our pathfinder, Isaac Adaka Boro,” he said. “He confronted environmental degradation, economic exploitation, and political marginalisation head-on, at a time when doing so meant risking everything.

“Boro started his agitation in his early twenties and declared the Niger Delta Republic at 27. He died at 29. That should challenge every Ijaw youth today to rise beyond rhetoric and start taking bold steps.”

He lamented that despite Boro’s revolutionary efforts, the Ijaw people are still grappling with similar challenges decades later.

Igarama criticised the attempts to alter political realities in Warri Federal Constituency, where, he argued, the Ijaws remain the clear majority, saying the recent ward delineation exercise has revealed that the Ijaw are the majority in the Warri Federal Constituency.

He stressed that the Ijaw will resist all attempts to suppress their rightful place in Warri.

The IYC leader accused some interest groups of resorting to violence and arming themselves in frustration, warning that Ijaw youths would not be intimidated.

He listed several abandoned projects in Western Ijaw, including the Abari Bridge, Patani–Kumbo–Udofori Road, Ayakoromo Bridge, and Ogulagha–Odimodi Road in Delta State, as well as roads and infrastructure in Edo and Ondo Ijaw areas—and urged the federal and state interventionist agencies such as the NDDC, DESOPADEC, EDSOPADEC, and ONSOPADEC not to politicise development in Ijaw communities.