The Western Zone of the Movement for the Survival of the Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta, MOSIEND, has lamented the "unimaginable and pitiable situation the Ijaw Nation and indeed the entire people of the Niger Delta region" are going through while stating that the ugly situations that forced the late Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (of blessed memory) to take up arms against the State has not changed.

The political and sociocultural organisation made the declaration in a press statement that was issued by its Western Zone Chairman, Comrade Graham Abulu, at the just-concluded 57th Boro Day Celebration in Effurun, Delta State, on Friday, May 16, 2025.

The group, which held a rally commemorating the memory of the late Hero of the Niger Delta, advocated for a development framework for the region that would actualize the objectives of the struggle fought for by Boro and others.

Below is the full statement of the press release as issued by MOSIEND Western Zone:

"Today is a very remarkable day because it is the day the entire Ijaw nation gathers to remember the personality and the legacies of our foremost hero and freedom fighter, the late Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, who was forced to take up arms against the state because of the unimaginable and pitiable situation the Ijaw nation and indeed the entire people of the Niger Delta region found themselves—whereby they are surrounded by abundance of natural wealth and other God-given resources but are dying of abject poverty and underdevelopment caused by wicked and greedy leaders who have sold their conscience for personal gains.

"Today is the 57th Boro Day celebration, but we are celebrating it with tears because many years after the death of Boro, nothing has changed. Rather, we are seeing things get from bad to worse - the same things that made Boro to take up arms against the state have tripled.

"Which one are we going to mention? Which one are we going to leave out? Is it hunger, poverty, insecurity, underdevelopment, oil pollution and land degradation, gas flaring, contaminated waters and farmlands, lack of electricity and portable drinking water, lack of good schools, hospitals and good roads? The list is endless.

"As we speak, life is unbearable for people living in the rural areas, especially those from oil producing communities. As we speak, gas is being flared in every nook and cranny of the Niger Delta, and the government is doing nothing about it.

"It is no longer news that we are losing our youths to the cold hands of death because of strange illnesses caused by oil and gas exploration activities. Today, you see young people and even children suffering from cancer and other terminal conditions because the air we breathe in the Niger Delta is contaminated.

"It is painful because all of these pains and untold hardship faced by our people do not mean anything to the government, and so the situation has continued to deteriorate day by day—with no hope at all.

"While the era of arms and violent agitation is over, we want the federal government to consider the unbearable pains they have subjected the people of the region to, and we want them to fulfill the agreement reached with the Niger Delta people and the ex-agitators which made them to lay down their arms to accept the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

"We also call on the leaders of the Niger Delta region to ease the pain of the people by coming up with a framework to develop the region, so that our founding fathers can rest in peace wherever they are, because, clearly, this is not their vision for the region.

"Thank you for listening, and remain blessed. Haaa... Izon!" the statement reads.

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