African Journal of
Political Science and International Relations

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Pol. Sci. Int. Relat.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0832
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJPSIR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 405

Article in Press

The Igbo, Marginalization And Emergence Of Sectarian Groups In South-East, Nigeria, 1999 - 2018

Alozie, Cyprian C.

  •  Received: 22 December 2018
  •  Accepted: 19 February 2019
The paper investigated the Igbo, their alleged cases of marginalization in the politics of Nigeria and emergence of sectarian groups in South East, Nigeria. The Igbo ethnic nationality is located in the South East, Nigeria. The Igbo is highly numerous and populous, with abundance of natural and mineral resources which contributes so much to Nigeria’s national development. Besides, a good number of the Igbo have made and are still making valid contributions to Nigeria’s political development. Yet, the Igbo is noted to have remained one of the ethnic groups in Nigeria that have continued to suffer alleged discriminatory treatment and marginalization from the powers that be at the centre. Historically, the Igbo has insisted that the Federal Government of Nigeria has done little or nothing to address the myriads of the agitations that built up to the Nigeria-Biafra war. The reluctance of the Federal Government to fully re-integrate the Igbo into mainstream Nigeria politics, adopt the political option over the alleged cases of the Igbo marginalization have therefore partly contributed to the emergence of sectarian groups in South-East, Nigeria. Notwithstanding the force option of the state, these sectarian groups have remained resolute in their demands. Materials for the study were sourced through the secondary method, content analysis was applied in the analysis. The study reveals that lack of genuine institution of social justice and good governance in Nigeria among others have resulted to the expression of disaffection among majority of people of the Igbo extraction. The paper recommends genuine restructuring of Nigeria’s unbalanced federation and greater use of the political option and dialogue in addressing ethnic agitations in Nigeria.

Keywords: Governance, South-East, Marginalization, Nigeria, Sectarian groups