18/01/2026
https://www.facebook.com/100066676973079/posts/1232298375669383/?rdid=MwIF96j1TSpmm1Nt #
👆🏾Link to Prof. Soludo's recent comment on Igbo marginalization, and my comment below:👇🏾
I think Prof Soludo was trying to make a point about the transmutation of Biafra agitation into inexplicable self-terrorism. This is an empirically valid argument, given the reality of homegrown insecurity in Igboland.
But he unfortunately muddled the argument with his position on marginalization.
It is factually incorrect to claim that Igbos marginalize themselves in Nigeria. This is an ahistorical point I wouldn't have expected from the professor.
Igbos couldn't wait to escape their ravaged homeland soon after the war, fanning out into what only recently had been enemy country to rebuild their lives. Today, as everyone knows, Igbos are the most widely dispersed tribe in Nigeria. They engage in economic activities in their varied destinations, owning immovable property and raising their families in far-flung parts of Nigeria. In several parts of the country, they constitute the second largest population cluster, after the indigenous group. Indeed in some areas, they outperform the indigenes in per capita economic output.
And it's not just in metropoles like Lagos, Abuja and Kano. Igbos can be found eking out economic opportunity in the remotest parts of the country.
So deeply are Igbos entrenched in uber-Nigeria that it has prompted a growing campaign of "Aku luo uno". Unlike other major tribes, much of the Igbo elite - economic, political or intellectual - resides outside Igboland.
Igbos, without doubt, are exogenously-oriented in Nigeria. A fact which contradicts the claim of self-marginalization.
Contrast Igbo disposition towards Nigeria with the converse. While Igbos disperse across the country and invest in host economies, other tribes have not found Igboland attractive as an investment destination. Where they engage at all, it is more extractive than integrative.
Politically, the South East is the most fragmented zone in the country, reflecting the political complexion of the country far more than other territories. Whereas other geopolitical zones are one- or two-party dominant, the South East up until recently was governed by four parties - APGA, Labour, PDP and APC. The PDP only lost its perch with the recent defection of Enugu governor Peter Mbah to the APC. Today, even with APC's neglect of the region from the time of Buhari, the federal-governing party controls three of the five state houses in the South East.
In presidential elections, until the emergence of Peter Obi in 2023, Igbos voted predominantly for flag-bearers from other tribes. Only Zik and Obi have ever commanded Igbo votes as presidential candidates of Igbo extraction, notwithstanding the plethora of Igbo aspirants in every presidential election cycle. Igbos even rejected Ojukwu's presidential sorties, despite the deep affection for their war hero.
To sum up: Igbos may not be all that enthused these days by poorly-paid and poorly-reputed professions in the police force or army. There may be a rag-tag phalanx of Igbo misfits terrorizing their homeland, driven by confused patriotism or sheer criminality. Prof Soludo could have made this point and left it at that.
Unfortunately, he ventured further, positing a thesis of Igbo self-marginalization which is contradicted by the graph of broader Igbo engagement in Nigeria.
Cheers
Chudi Okoye
