GistNexus – April 12, 2025.
In a move that has sparked fresh controversy, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has once again warned Igbo youths against enrolling in the Nigerian Army recruitment drive, urging them instead to return to their roots and take up agriculture. This is as the Nigerian Army cries out over the spate of youths from the South-East avoiding enlistment into the armed forces.
Emma Powerful, IPOB’s leader, released a statement emphasizing what the group describes as the continued marginalization and maltreatment of Igbo military personnel within the Nigerian military hierarchy. In his opinion, the Federal Government uses Igbo military personnel as cannon fodder in zones of intense conflict, particularly in northern Nigeria, where groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP have been ongoing threats for over a decade.
The global IPOB family once more invites Biafran youths to shun the ongoing recruitment of the Nigerian Army,” the release added. “Before you consider joining, ask yourself: what happened to those who joined a few years ago? Many have fallen victims of Boko Haram and other terror groups in the North.”
Recent Trending News
Allegations of Ethnic Prejudice and Discrimination
The IPOB announcement placed in the limelight what it called “ethnic bias” within the Nigerian Army. IPOB accused the army of knowingly assigning Igbo recruits to the most troubled regions of the country, poorly supporting them, and brutally treating them.
Social media uploads and viral clips were referenced, in which soldiers bemoaned unpaid allowances, welfare troubles, poor medical treatment, and antiquated equipment. IPOB claims these are not isolated incidents, but rather institutional injustices rooted in the military’s actions against soldiers from certain ethnic groups.
We have evidence of terrorists occupying military barracks and police stations in the North,” the IPOB statement continued. “Concurrently, the same government is rewarding the killers of such unsuspecting soldiers with money, jobs, and scholarships in the pretence that they are ‘repentant terrorists’ and subsequently recruiting them into the same security forces.
The separatist movement also claimed that these so-called “repentant terrorists” were being integrated into the Nigerian security establishment, a move it claims erodes national security and sends a demoralizing message to frontline troops.
Emotional and Physical Toll on Recruits
IPOB painted a gloomy picture of what becomes of most soldiers, particularly Igbo youth who had enlisted in the army in recent years. IPOB claimed that others return emotionally traumatized or physically incapacitated with little or no reward from the state.
“Any Igbodi youth who enlists into the Nigerian Army is writing themselves in sorrow,” Powerful elucidated. “You are either going to be used as a sacrificial lamb for terrorists, killed by the state, or be used as a cannon fodder to be sent out for proxy wars.”
“And if by any means you will be brought back home alive, then it is in shame—no benefit, no respect. Ask whoever was part of those proxy wars, what do they gain. Nothing.”
Agriculture as a Better Alternative
Rather than engaging in what IPOB described as a “rigged system,” the group encouraged youths in the South-East to return to their villages and engage in agriculture. They asserted that this would not only earn them a sustainable livelihood but also provide food security and economic independence at the local level.
“Just picture what will happen to you as an Igbo soldier,” the warning advised. “Your triumph would be seen as a threat to the Nigerian state. Your fight against insurgents would be misrepresented as war against the North.”
Recent Trending News
IPOB’s message is this: in order to preserve their lives and their dignity, Igbo youths ought to resist being recruited and instead till the land. The organization insisted that the Nigerian Army as it exists now is a tool of oppression for the use of ethnic and foreign interests.
Nigerian Army Reacts with Concern
Following the recorded decline in enlistment from the South-East, the Nigerian Army has embarked on sensitisation to persuade youth from the region to enlist in the military recruitment.
Commander of the 2025 Nigerian Army Recruitment Awareness Team, Brigadier General Chima Ekeator, was in Umuahia on Wednesday, where he met with Abia Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, through his Chief of Staff, Pastor Caleb Ajagba.
During the visit, Brigadier General Ekeator highlighted the low turn-out from the South-East during recent recruitment exercises. According to him, in 2024, Abia State was allocated almost 200 recruitment spots, but took only 53 of them. The same patterns were seen across other Southeastern states.
Efforts to Close the Recruitment Gap
Ekeator said that the Nigerian Army was not only concerned but even actively engaged in reversing this trend. Awareness team has conducted town hall meetings with community leadership, traditional rulers, as well as local government officials in a bid to reach out to the youths and dispel misconceptions regarding military service.
“We are here to sensitize the South-East youths on the need to fill up the slots that are available for them,” said Ekeator. “The leadership of the Nigerian Army is committed to inclusiveness and we are not going to leave any part of the country without being represented equally.”
Abia Government’s Assurance
In turn, the representative of Governor Otti guaranteed the military team the support of the state government. Pastor Ajagba undertook to put in place necessary channels to get youths involved and persuade them to take up the opportunities offered by the Nigerian Army.
We shall create the necessary frameworks that will make those in the age range of interest realize the need to be part of the total vision and progress of the Nigerian Army, in order to attain adequate security for this nation,” he said.
He also pledged that the state government would take the message of sensitization to reach every nook and cranny of Abia, making recruitment easier in the future to be more palatable.
The Nigerian Army’s Role in National Development
Governor Otti also thanked the Nigerian Army for its persistent efforts to incorporate each part of the nation into national security efforts, particularly the South-East. He commended the professionalism and sacrifices of the military, pointing out that security is needed for economic and infrastructural development.
“Whatever you invest, no matter how much infrastructure you create, unless you have a friendly environment here which is a by-product of good security, even the people would be too scared to come near and would never be able to enjoy the infrastructure that is available in this region,” he said.
He called for collective action by all the stakeholders to rekindle trust among the young people and get them perceive the military as not a repressive apparatus but rather as an apparatus of national solidarity and service.
The Growing Divide
The most recent confrontation between IPOB’s secessionist ideology and the Nigerian Army’s call for unity in service is gaining momentum. While IPOB advocates complete withdrawal and reorientation of agrarian existence, and the military advocates increased recruitment to oneness, the South-East youths are caught up in a matrix of intensifying political, ethnic, and economic rivalries.
While the Army views recruitment as a means of accessing national integration, IPOB regards it as a betrayal of Igbo identity and a gambles gamble. The outcome of such an ideological struggle can determine not only levels of enlistment, but the future of national integration and the empowerment of the youths in the country.
As the sensitisation process continues, all eyes will be on the response of Southeastern youths: Will they heed IPOB’s threat, or take up the Army’s offer to serve and protect?
Recent Trending News
Reported by GistNexus Team and Edited by Mr. Chibueze Onwuka