Soludo Calls on Igbo Community to Embrace Full Integration into Nigeria

David-Chyddy Eleke examines the legitimacy of Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo’s recent request that Ndigbo appropriately reintegrate into the Nigerian project.

Despite receiving more than 90% of the total votes voted in the state’s governorship election on November 8, 2025, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo cannot claim to be particularly popular with the general public. That might need to be clarified later. However, the professor of econometrics and former governor of Nigeria’s top bank is one governor whose open opinions cannot be wished away.

It doesn’t matter if Soludo’s words make you love or despise him; what matters is that no matter how unpleasant or painful his opinions may be, you cannot ignore the truth they contain. Since taking office as governor in 2021, Soludo has frequently expressed unpopular opinions that, while neither untrue nor debatable, were seen negatively by his detractors.

His famous open letter, “History Beckons, I Shall not be Quiet,” continues to be one of the most well-known of these opinions. His opinions in the book were direct criticisms of Mr. Peter Obi, his predecessor, a former UNN classmate, and the godfather of his kid. Mr. Obi was a Labour Party presidential contender in the 2023 election.

The entire Igbo race in South East Nigeria was the focus of Soludo’s recent decision to reveal such reality on the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day. The governor urged the Igbo people of the South East to stop marginalizing themselves, especially its young people, and to accept their position as “co-owners” of the Nigerian project by enlisting in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Following a vibrant military procession and the symbolic placing of a wreath on the tomb of the “unknown soldier,” Soludo addressed the platform to deliver what he saw as home truth while considering the 56th anniversary of the end of the Nigerian civil war. He called the civil war “needless” and pointed out that the idea of “no victor, no vanquished” must continue to serve as the nation’s compass. However, Soludo felt that the South East’s residents needed to shed the toga of marginalization, which has been a recurring theme in the region’s discourse.

He bemoaned the fact that, despite the fact that the war ended 56 years ago, Igbo people still have feelings of marginalization, to the extent that they refuse to be recruited into important institutions that may further their development and strengthen their position in the Nigerian project.

For instance, the South East consistently reports low enrollment rates in vital sectors like the military. The South East states declined to occupy the slots, even after quotas were given out. This has persisted and has been exacerbated by hazardous propaganda disseminated by secessionist elements who want everyone to think that the system would always despise Igbo people. For instance, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), a separatist organization led by Ralph Uwazuruike, advocated for the Igbo people to avoid the 2006 national census, claiming it was useless.

Later, the group violently interfered with the exercise, even resorting to violence against census takers. Even the justifications that the census served as the foundation for allocating utilities and other benefits of democracy were insufficient to persuade them to change their minds.

Additionally, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a later-day secessionist organization headed by Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently incarcerated, has launched a propaganda campaign opposing military enlistment. The false information that Igbo officers in the force are targeted and sent to bandits and Boko Haram, which devastated the North East and West, respectively, in the hopes that they will be used as sacrificial lambs, is where this all began.

After this failed, the group went on to declare war on their own brothers who were in the police, calling them “saboteurs.” There are numerous videos depicting members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militant wing of the IPOB, attacking police formations and even targeting Igbo officers for daring to register in the Nigeria Police, which they call “zoo police.” Some of these officers are killed, while others are abducted and forced to die slowly.

During the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, Soludo stated, “The Police is working hard, the army; you’re working hard, but Anambra people and the rest of the South East, this is the moment that we have to tell ourselves that the civil war has ended and the civil war ended 56 years ago,” in an attempt to dispel their misconceptions and provide home truths about how the Igbo can integrate into the Nigerian project and reap the many benefits of doing so. Our young people from the South East, especially those from Anambra, have the lowest recruitment rates in the nation for both the Army and the Police.

“I would like to take this opportunity to encourage our young people to join the Nigerian military. Nigeria belongs to all of us, and we cannot be full members of a group and choose not to participate or stay out at the same time. We have been marginalizing ourselves in this particular sector. In a few decades, we would turn around and cry that there are no officials of Igbo or Anambra descent because we refused to join the police or military. Therefore, as equal owners of Project Nigeria, we must contribute equally.

Soludo is aware of the actions of a small group of criminals who pretend to be separatists and liberators in an effort to free the people from the “suffocating” hold of Nigerian authorities, who are thought to despise Igbo people. Soludo, who has consistently offered a carrot before a stick, seized another chance to urge criminals posing as freedom fighters to leave the bushes or face consequences for their actions.

“I also want to call on our brothers and a few sisters who are in the bushes and in the forest and so called camps; some say they are liberators but these people are criminals, kidnappers, and terrorists,” Soludo stated in reference to them. Humans do not reside in bushes or woodlands, therefore leave as you are not freeing anyone. People reside in homes. We have extended an olive branch to the remaining terrorists, and we will assist them in becoming contributing members of society. The terror age must end. However, the line is carved in the sand if you choose to remain there, and I always remind our young people that nobody has closed themselves off and survived off crime till old age. We use this occasion once again to extend the olive branch.

“As we celebrate the Armed Forces Day today, we call on you to lay down your arms because the civil war is over. There is no other way to end the civil war, and it affects not only the people in the South East but all of Nigeria. Nigeria needs to be developed in order to fulfill its manifest destiny and become the world’s most progressive country in addition to its greatest population, according to Soludo.

Even though many have criticized Soludo for what they called “loud mouthedness,” his message has resonated sufficiently in the minds of many. Soludo is adamant that he has said the correct thing after numerous conversations.

In defense of his principal, his press secretary, Mr. Christian Aburime, wrote: “History demonstrates that groups that choose not to participate in national processes frequently wake up ten years later to find themselves statistically “diminished” or under-represented in federal institutions, leading to a fresh cycle of disadvantage that is difficult to reverse.” The aforementioned dynamics make it important that Ndigbo, particularly our brothers and sisters from Anambra State and the energetic, resilient youth of the Southeast, wake up! Sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option. Now is the time to put an end to the period of self-imposed exile from the core of Nigeria’s security architecture.

“Consider the heroes that the Southeast would lose if they chose not to enlist. Future generals, strategists, and reformers may be among our bright, creative, and resilient young people. Thus, the Light of the Nation has always set an example for young people in Anambra. We have done well in both business and education. Let us now rule in the service of our country. No other road may compare to the discipline, abilities, and sense of purpose that enlistment provides. It also serves as a doorway to power, prestige, and pensions. We have rebuilt from the devastation of war for the greater Southeast; now is the time to reestablish our presence in every institution that unites Nigeria. Saying “never again” to self-marginalization is appropriate at this point.