A splinter group within Ohanaeze Ndigbo has taken a firm stand: the South-East will not participate in the nationwide June 12 Democracy Day protest.
The group insists their decision is not a retreat from civic duty. Rather, it’s a calculated move to protect Igbo lives and property across Nigeria, with a special focus on the Southeast.
Over the decades, past protests have left scars of betrayal, loss, and targeted violence.
According to Ohanaeze, “over the last 65 years since Nigeria’s independence, evidence has shown that during previous protests against government actions, Igbos have been unjustly demonized and treated as scapegoats, resulting in tragic consequences.”
In a statement signed by the faction’s Deputy President-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, on the 8th of June, 2025, the group referenced a grim history of violence, where Igbo victims were “left uncompensated and without justice,” adding that future protests under today’s fragile security conditions could worsen the risks.
The statement read: “Moreover, the prevailing insecurity in the Southeast renders any form of protest imprudently hazardous. It is crucial to emphasize that the Igbo nation shall not participate in any national protests until our pressing demands are duly recognized and acted upon most critically, the immediate release of all Igbo prisoners of conscience unjustly detained in various prisons.
Notable among those is Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, along with others. The federal government has demonstrated selective justice by dismissing felony charges against certain individuals while our own brothers remain imprisoned without just cause. This double standard cannot continue.”
The group warned protest organizers to take this position seriously.
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“We must assert this uncomfortable truth to the organizers of national protests: there is a clear consensus among the Igbo people that we will no longer entertain any protests in the Southeast nor partake in any national protests anywhere in Nigeria where Igbo reside.”
The statement also hinted at alleged plans to drag the region into a wider political conflict.
“Furthermore, we are acutely aware of a covert plot being engineered by unpatriotic politicians and anti-democratic elements in various regions, including Abuja, Kaduna, Maiduguri, and Lagos.
These unscrupulous groups appear intent on using national protests as instruments of destabilization against the Tinubu administration, aiming to unjustly portray the Igbo as adversaries of the government. This must be firmly resisted.”
This stance adds a tense layer to the growing debate around the June 12 protest, as different voices across the country weigh the cost of silence against the danger of action.