30/08/2026
IJAW: The Neighbours Who Chose Enemies Over Allies and Became Their Own Scapegoats
In the long sweep of Nigerian history, no chronicle records an Igbo–Ijaw civil war. There was no Ijaw invasion of Igboland, nor any Igbo march into Ijaw territory. These two peoples once lived as a quiet commonwealth: open borders, free trade, shared sea routes, and no one claiming exclusive ownership of the ocean. Intermarriage was common Ijaw men took Igbo wives, Igbo men took Ijaw brides. They were peace loving neighbours who prospered side by side.
Then Nigeria arrived, and propaganda flooded the land. The same communities that once ran their economies with the openness of a free-trading nation were suddenly cast as rivals. Overnight, Igbos were “grabbing” Ijaw land and Ijaws were “grabbing” Igbo land. After oil was discovered, the narrative hardened: Igbos became the land grabbers, the “landlocked” people a label no one had ever used before. Flourishing economies gave way to killings, rigid new boundaries, and the endless refrain of “from here is Igbo, from here is Ijaw.” Conflict replaced commerce.
Ijaw, listen carefully. History has always shown your numbers to be limited. Population has long been your greatest vulnerability. You absorbed slaves, immigrants, and even Igbo kings to strengthen your ranks because sheer numbers were never your strength. God did not grant you demographic weight for a reason. The wise path was always diplomacy with neighbours who possess it the Igbos and the Ibibios. Instead, you turned them into enemies and chose isolation. That choice has become both your downfall and your curse.
Let us be blunt: remain at loggerheads with the Igbos and you will achieve nothing in Nigeria. Nothing. You will remain the perpetual scapegoats of this national project. Since you declared the Igbos your enemy, what have you truly won? You believe you are wounding them. In truth, you are only wounding yourselves.
Look at Igboland: five homogeneous states, two major heterogeneous states where they form the majority, and influence in several others seven thriving capital cities. And the Ijaw? Zero cities of your own. Port Harcourt, the prize you thought you had claimed, effectively returned to Igbo hands. Yenagoa, the town you parade as yours, does not even rest fully on ancestral Ijaw soil. Stubborn claims and territorial posturing bought you nothing substantial.
Swallow your pride and return to the older way of living. You are not the sole custodians of oil. Akwa Ibom holds more crude. The Igbos sit on the largest natural-gas reserves in West Africa; Imo State alone possesses more gas than many entire nations. So what, exactly, is all the noise about?
You abandoned historical partners and aligned yourselves with those who would rather swallow you. Are you cursed? Can you not see the pattern?
Stop the theatrics. Return to the drawing board. Make peace with your neighbours and watch whether this country begins to tilt in your favour. Since you chose to negotiate alone, what has isolation delivered? Polluted waters. Air thick with toxins. Eyes red and burning from poisonous flares. Do the Igbos suffer this same fate? No. They possess voice, numbers, and people in positions of influence. Who speaks for you? Almost no one. By cutting yourselves off from those who could have amplified your demands, you silenced your own cause. That is why farms fail, why oil spills go unchecked, why fish die, and why people drink poisoned water and perish. This is the true curse of isolation.
Think. You are human beings, not beasts driven by pride alone. Use your heads. Stop being a curse unto yourselves. This rigid “we no go gree” posture has grown tiresome and self-defeating.
Make peace. Rebuild the bridges you once crossed freely. Only then might fortune begin to favour you again.
