Biaka Boda

Victor Biaka Boda was born in Gagnoa on February 25, 1913. Graduating from the Dakar Medical School, he served as a physician across Côte d'Ivoire, earning deep affection for his devotion to treating poor plantation laborers and resisting abusive colonial medical taxes.

In 1947, Biaka Boda was elected Senator to the Council of the Republic in Paris representing Côte d'Ivoire for the RDA. During the violent colonial clampdown against the RDA in early 1950, he vanished while touring the interior near Bouaflé; his charred remains were later found. His martyrdom became a rallying cry for the independence movement.