A Revealing Exposé for Viral Effect – From the Stable of Oblong Media.
There is a frightening truth lurking beneath the surface of Ala Igbo, one so uncomfortable, so deeply rooted, and so dangerously ignored that many prefer to pretend it does not exist. But reality does not disappear because a people are afraid to confront it. Sometimes, it sits quietly… waiting. And then, one day, history demands accountability.
Today, Ndi Igbo stand on the brink of an existential fracture, one engineered systematically, welcomed foolishly, and fuelled shamelessly by our own elders and politicians, past and present. A people once united by geography, culture, and purpose have now been deliberately carved into pieces, scattered, fragmented, and left without a single unifying pillar strong enough to withstand national or global shocks. The fragmentation is nationwide, but I’m only interested in how it affects ndi igbo.
This is not an opinion. This is history, plain and unfiltered.
1966: THE LAST TIME IGBOS WERE ONE PEOPLE
Before 1966, ask any man from Enugu, Owerri, Yenagoa, Calabar, Asaba, Nsukka, or Okigwe: Where are you from?
He would answer simply: “The East.”
One region. One identity. One people.
Eastern Nigeria functioned as a coherent social, cultural, and political block. Despite our diversity, we shared a destiny. We built together, voted together, developed together, and defended together. No Ebonyi. No Imo. No Abia. No “my state,” “your state,” “my zone,” “my senatorial district.”
We were Ndi Eastern Nigeria.
But then came the first axe.
THE SYSTEMATIC FRAGMENTATION OF NDIGBO
Nigeria’s rulers understood something profound about the Igbo spirit: A united Igbo nation is unstoppable. They saw how we united for the civil war. They saw unity in its rarest form, they had to act fast.
So they broke us.
Deliberately. Methodically. Strategically.
The timeline tells the story:
Before the Nigerian Civil War began on July 6, 1967, 12 states were created on May 27, 1967, Eastern Region shattered into East Central State, South-Eastern State, and part of Mid-Western Region.
After the civil war when the 3 R’s healing process was supposedly ongoing, on February 3, 1976: 19 states were created. Fragmentation deepend.
September 23, 1987: 21 states were created.
August 27, 1991: 30 states.
October 1, 1996: Final 36-state structure, cementing the balkanisation of the Igbo nation.
With every new state came new identities:
The Ebonyi man becomes proudly and distinctively “Ebonyi.” The Enugu man becomes unmistakably “Enugu.” The Imo man becomes politically and uniquely “Imo.”
our brothers in Delta, Edo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Kogi and Benue become “displaced minorities.”
And tragically, our elders and politicians welcomed these divisions with both hands, blinded by greed, ambition, proximity to power, and the promise of governorship seats.
What they failed to see is that every new state created a new boundary inside the Igbo nation.
A boundary of suspicion.
A boundary of competition.
A boundary of political rivalry.
A boundary of disunity.
We became a people divided by the very knife we applauded.
TODAY: AN IGBO NATION WITH NO UNIFYING CENTER
The consequences are brutal:
The Ebonyi man does not trust the Abian.
Anambra looks down on Imo.
Enugu looks down on Ebonyi.
Our Delta and Rivers brothers are treated like strangers.
The scattered Igbo communities in Kogi, Edo, Cross River, Benue and Akwa Ibom are politically orphaned.
No institution binds us.
No leader commands pan-Igbo respect.
No agenda unites us.
Ask yourself: If Nigeria were to break today, what unifying structure exists to hold the Igbo nation together?
The painful answer: None.
We would not become Biafra.
We would not become a singular Igbo republic.
We would likely split into four, five, or six mini-states, each pursuing its own interests.
Is this the destiny of a people with a shared ancestry stretching back thousands of years?
Is this the future of a nation known for courage, resilience, and intelligence?
THE IGBO POLITICAL CLASS: ARCHITECTS OF OUR FRAGMENTATION
Instead of repairing the damage, our political elite deepened it:
Every governor behaves like an emperor.
They see other Igbo states as rivals, not partners.
They bow shamelessly to Abuja instead of building Igbo cohesion.
They compete for federal favour like slaves in the king’s court.
They refuse to collaborate on security, economic development, or political strategy.
They sabotage regional initiatives to protect personal ambition.
The North has Islam as a unifier.
The Yoruba have Oduduwa consciousness and a deeply rooted cultural identity.
Ndi Igbo? We have politics, and a brand of politics that destroys us.
Who today is the Igbo leader with the legitimacy to summon all of Ala Igbo for a direction-setting meeting?
Who?
Name one.
Our so-called “leaders” have become Nigerians first, Igbo last, chasing contracts, appointments, and crumbs from Abuja.
THE DIASPORA: STRONG OUTSIDE, POWERLESS AT HOME
Half of our population is abroad, the most successful, most exposed, most enlightened diaspora from Africa.
They form organisations.
They fund projects.
They preach unity.
They rebuild hometowns.
But what happens when they try to influence things at home?
They meet resistance from our diluted and compromised political class and indifference from the local elite.
Diaspora unity cannot replace home-base cohesion.
And without the two working together, the Igbo project is dead on arrival.
A FUTURE SCENARIO WE REFUSE TO IMAGINE
If Nigeria disintegrates tomorrow, and ethnic nationalities realign, the Igbo will face a crisis no one wants to talk about.
Who unites us?
What binds us?
Who leads us?
What is our shared identity?
We risk becoming the most scattered, most divided, most uncertain national group in West Africa.
A people without structure.
A nation without cohesion.
A tribe without a unified front.
This is not prophecy.
This is the logical outcome of our current trajectory.
SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The first step is acknowledging the disaster.
The second step is identifying the architects, our own sons and daughters in positions of power.
The third step is demanding a radical rethink of Igbo cohesion, identity, and political alignment.
If not, then history will prove that Ndi Igbo, once the most visionary people in Nigeria, self-destructed internally long before any external enemy fired a shot.
ULTIMATELY
I stand to be corrected.
But from the evidence before us, from the history we have lived through, and from the politics we still practice, I fear that the greatest threat to the Igbo nation is not Nigeria, not Hausa, not Yoruba, not colonialism, not Fulani herdsmen, but Ndi Igbo themselves.
If we do not wake up now, the fragmentation engineered by others and sustained by us will define the Igbo destiny for the next hundred years.
The time to confront this truth is now.
Before history makes the decision for us.
By Hon. Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
Duruebube Ihiagwa ófó asato
OBLONG MEDIA UNLIMITED 
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