Nigerian State and the Dialectics of Self-Determination Agitation: A Study of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, 2012 -2024

Abstract

This interrogates the clamour by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for self-determination which
started with the emergence of the organisation in 2012 as founded by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The
IPOB group believes that the Igbo has suffered great injustice and marginalisation which none of
the past and present government administrations ever made any deliberate attempt to address. As
a result, the group agitates for the independence of the Igbo ethnic nationality and demands that
referendum be administered to that effect. The Nigerian government has refused to discuss the self-
determination demand of the IPOB group. The only government response to the self-determination
agitation of the IPOB group has been force or repression. This article investigated how the inherited
colonial legacies characterise the state behaviour in post-colonial Nigeria, and how the repressive
state behaviour to separatist agitation has continued to shape and reshape the self-determination
agitation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group in Nigeria. The study made use of both
primary and secondary sources of data collection. The instruments of primary data collection were
Key Informant Interview (KII) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD), while secondary data sources
include text books, newspapers, official publications, journal publications and internet sources. The
data collected were textually analyzed. The article found out that the Igbo people has suffered
marginalisation, political exclusion and injustice. The IPOB group has lost total trust in Nigerian
government and wants the Igbo to have a separate state from Nigeria. The article recommends that
the political class should shun selfish interests and eliminate the vices that keep the country
underdeveloped; the government should address the complaint of marginalisation against the South-
East and organise the administration of referendum just as British Government did for the Scottish
people.