By SUNTV Global Channel | January 1, 2026
The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has called on the people of Nigeria’s South-East to begin preparations for what it described as an “eventual exit” from the Nigerian state, citing decades of marginalisation, insecurity, and unresolved injustices against the Igbo people.
The call was made in a New Year message issued on Wednesday by the National President of the council, Igboayaka Igboayaka, who said 2026 should represent a turning point for Ndigbo.
According to him, the time has come to speak the truth “plainly and without fear,” arguing that the Igbo people have endured prolonged suffering within Nigeria.
“As we enter a new year, truth must be spoken plainly and without fear,” Igboayaka said. “Ndigbo have prolonged their suffering in Nigeria like the Jews in Egypt.”
He urged Igbos to stop “dying in Nigeria” and instead begin preparing mentally, politically, economically and diplomatically for life outside what he described as a hostile and failing system.
Tracing Igbo marginalisation to the aftermath of the 1967–1970 civil war, the OYC leader alleged that the post-war reconciliation programme announced by then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, amounted to continued punishment of the Igbo people.
He cited economic dispossession, including the policy of refunding only £20 to Igbo citizens regardless of their pre-war bank savings, and claimed that the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation (3Rs) programme was never implemented in Igboland.
Igboayaka said the emergence of pro-Biafra movements such as MASSOB and IPOB was a direct response to decades of exclusion, broken promises and denial of dignity to Ndigbo.
“These movements did not arise out of hatred or rebellion for its own sake, but from unresolved injustices,” 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. He called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant Kanu unconditional release, saying it would help restore Nigeria’s image internationally.
Describing Nigeria as a country overwhelmed by corruption, economic decline and elite looting, Igboayaka argued that the state had lost the moral authority to demand unity and patriotism.
According to him, Igbos continue to face political exclusion, economic targeting and profiling across the country, leaving “no clear hope or future for an Igbo man within the Nigerian political system.”
The OYC president announced that the council would intensify political mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections, vowing to remove what he called political saboteurs from positions of power in the South-East.
“We must retire all political oppressors in Igboland in 2027,” he said, urging elected representatives to support calls for a referendum or plebiscite as a democratic right.
He further disclosed that the Ohanaeze Youth Council would lead a major campaign throughout 2026 for a referendum on self-determination, insisting that the right of a people to determine their political future is guaranteed under international law.
Rejecting what he described as Nigeria’s “forced and involuntary unity,” Igboayaka argued that the 1914 amalgamation no longer serves the interests of peaceful coexistence.
“Unity without justice is oppression, and unity without consent is occupation,” he said.
He also called on traditional rulers, town union leaders and youth organisations across Igboland to collaborate in forming vigilante groups to protect lives and property, warning against a return to the violence of the civil war era.
“This new year must mark a decisive shift,” Igboayaka said, adding that history would remember “those who spoke when silence was convenient and those who acted when fear was fashionable.”
SUNTV Global Channel will continue to monitor reactions to the statement and its implications for Nigeria’s unity and the South-East region.
