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Notable Resistance

Six rebellions in the 19th and 20th century Niger Delta are worth noting. The rebellion of King William Koko of Nembe 1894-95; Nana of Itsekiri 1896, and Oba Overanmi Nogbaisi of Benin 1897; the 12-day revolution of Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro 1966; Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni 1993-95; and of course, the Ijaw youths and the Kaiama Declaration 1998-2000.

Taken together, these six rebellions represent the signposts through which the history of crises can be best read. The common thread running through them is injustice and the demand of the people for legitimacy and survival. King Koko of Nembe resisted the multi-national palm oil trading company, the Royal Niger Company, and actually took the battle to the "enemy" at Akassa in what the British historians refer to as "the Akassa Raid"

The company had shut the Nembe people out of the trade in palm oil, leading to threat of starvation and destitution. Similar antics by the company against Nana were resisted. In both instances, it was the show of autonomy and recalcitrance on the part of the Itsekiri and Nembe people that resulted in the gun-boat attack on Nembe and Ebrohinmi, the capital cities of the Itsekiri and the Nembe people.

Rebellion of that magnitude was not to arise until the revolutionary, Isaac Boro, took the case of his people before the court of public opinion. Boro declared what he called "the Niger Delta Republic" which lasted 12 days before his army of "innocent volunteers" was routed by federal authorities.

In 1990, a well-to-do businessman, writer and poet, Ken Saro-Wiwa, began mobilising his people for change on the leverage of the Ogoni Bill of Rights. By all accounts, the mobilisation was clearly successful, and it is said Ken's Ogoni project is, perhaps, the most successful grassroots democratic experiment ever put together in Africa. The Ogonis successfully resisted Shell, the Anglo-Dutch Oil Company, and drove it out in January 1993.

On December 11, 1998, Ijaw youths gathered for the All Ijaw Youths Conference and issued the now famous Kaiama Declaration. The events following the declaration led to resistance that took the Niger Delta region by storm.

Many were killed in the two events. Federal authorities acting through organs such as the Internal Security Task Force and Operation Hakuri I and II destroyed countless homes and property. . Again, the basis of conflict that followed each of these incidents was to secure restitution for the people of the Niger Delta.