The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has urged the Igbos in Nigeria’s South-East region to begin preparations for an “eventual exit” from Nigeria, citing decades of marginalisation, unresolved post-civil war injustices, insecurity, and what it termed the failure of the Nigerian state.
The call was contained in a New Year message issued on January 1, 2026, by the National President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council, Igboayaka Igboayaka.
Igboayaka said the new year should mark a turning point for the Igbo people, stressing that “truth must be spoken plainly and without fear.”
“As we enter a new year, truth must be spoken plainly and without fear,” Igboayaka said, adding that “Ndigbo have prolonged their suffering in Nigeria like the Jews in Egypt.”
He urged Igbo people to “stop dying in Nigeria” and begin preparing “mentally, politically, economically, and diplomatically” for departure from what he described as a hostile system.
Igboayaka traced what he described as the marginalisation of Ndigbo to the aftermath of the 1967–1970 civil war, alleging that the reconciliation programme announced by the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, amounted to continued punishment of the Igbo people.
He claimed that the post-war period was marked by economic dispossession, including the policy of returning £20 to Igbo citizens regardless of the amounts held in their bank accounts before the war.
According to him, the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation (3Rs) programme “was never implemented in any part of Igboland or Biafra territory.”
The OYC president said the resurgence of pro-Biafra movements, from the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was a direct consequence of unresolved injustices against Ndigbo.
“It did not arise out of hatred or rebellion for its own sake, but from decades of exclusion, broken promises, and denial of dignity,” he said.
He also condemned the arrest and continued detention of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, describing it as an “extraordinary rendition” and a violation of international law.
Igboayaka called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant Kanu unconditional release, saying it would help redeem Nigeria’s image before the international community.
Igboayaka further described Nigeria as a state overwhelmed by corruption and economic decay, alleging large-scale looting by political elites and arguing that the country had lost the moral authority to preach unity and patriotism.
According to him, Ndigbo face political marginalisation, economic targeting and routine profiling across the country, leaving “no clear hope or future for an Igbo man within the Nigerian political system.”
Calling on Igbo youths to “rise with purpose and clarity,” the OYC leader said the council would intensify political mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections in the South-East.
“We must retire all political saboteurs and oppressors in Igboland in 2027,” he said, adding that elected representatives should support calls for a referendum or plebiscite as a democratic right of the people.
Igboayaka announced that the Ohanaeze Youth Council would lead a major campaign for a referendum or plebiscite on self-determination throughout 2026, insisting that the right of a people to freely determine their political future is guaranteed under international law.
He rejected what he described as Nigeria’s “forced and involuntary unity,” arguing that the 1914 amalgamation no longer meets the needs of peaceful coexistence.
“Unity without justice is oppression, and unity without consent is occupation,” he said.
Describing Nigeria as a failed state plagued by widespread killings, he called on traditional rulers, town union presidents, and community youth leaders in Igboland to collaborate in forming vigilante groups to protect lives and property.
The OYC president warned against the use of force against campaigners advocating a referendum, saying any form of brutality would be resisted and cautioning that a repeat of the violence of the civil war era must be avoided.
“This new year must mark a decisive shift,” he said, adding that history would remember “those who spoke when silence was convenient and those who acted when fear was fashionable.”
