Admin I Tuesday, August 05, 2025
AWKA, Nigeria – A renowned human rights lawyer and lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has affirmed the assertion made by former presidential aide Dr. Reuben Abati that “the Civil War in this country has never ended.”
In a statement released on Tuesday titled “THE CIVIL WAR NEVER ENDED , DR. REUBEN ABATI SPOKE THE TRUTH NIGERIA MUST CONFRONT,” Ejiofor stated that Abati’s comment is a factual observation rooted in the continued exclusion of the Igbo people from Nigerian society.
Ejiofor urged those who dismiss Abati’s assertion to pause and reflect on Nigeria’s post-war history, especially the structural marginalization the Igbo nation has faced for over five decades since the guns fell silent in January 1970.
He stressed that the marginalization of the Igbo is not a recent development but is instead the result of deliberate policies enacted after the Civil War to weaken and suppress a people who dared to assert their right to self-determination.
The Statement Reads:
When Dr. Reuben Abati, a respected journalist and former presidential aide, recently declared that “the Civil War in this country has never ended,” and noted that the North would resist the one-term presidency proposed by Peter Obi, he echoed a sentiment that resonates deeply with millions of Nigerians, especially the Igbo. This is not mere metaphorical language; it is a historical truth that continues to shape Nigeria’s political, economic, and social realities.
Those who reject this truth should carefully reconsider Nigeria’s post-war trajectory and the ongoing structural marginalization of the Igbo, which has persisted for more than fifty years. While the war may have ended on paper, its effects continue to permeate the fabric of Nigerian governance and power distribution.
The marginalization of the Igbo people predates recent times. It is rooted in intentional policies crafted after the Civil War to weaken a people who sought self-determination. The infamous “20 Pounds Policy,” whereby Igbo families were limited to reclaiming just £20 from their bank accounts regardless of how much money they had deposited before the war, was the first overt declaration that reconciliation was disingenuous.
This was followed by the Indigenization Decree of 1972, which allowed Nigerians to buy shares in foreign companies. However, the Igbo economically strangled, dispossessed, and deprived of resources,were effectively excluded from the commanding heights of Nigeria’s economy. These policies were not accidental; they were deliberate attempts to extend the consequences of military defeat well beyond the battlefield.
Contemporary Evidence of Structural Exclusion
Today, structural bias remains glaringly evident. Key political offices at the national level are skewed against the South-East. In over 63 years of Nigeria’s independence, the presidency has rotated only between the North and South-West, leaving the South-East marginalized from national leadership. The aspiration of the Igbo to hold the presidency remains a distant mirage. It is, indeed, easier for an elephant to pass through the eye of a needle than for an Igbo person to become president under the current political structure. This harsh reality is often ignored by those who prefer to live in denial.
The Case of DCG B.U. Nwafor — A Contemporary Example
For skeptics of Dr. Abati’s claim, consider the case of Deputy Comptroller-General (DCG) B.U. Nwafor, an accomplished officer of Anambra extraction and the next in line to succeed the current Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi. Despite an impeccable record marked by discipline, diligence, and distinction, her progression was blocked when the presidency extended Adeniyi’s tenure by one year. Consequently, Nwafor will retire without attaining the position she earned not due to incompetence or corruption, but because the civil war’s effects persist.
The Igbo are not politically irrelevant because of a lack of competence or capacity. On the contrary, the Igbo nation boasts some of Nigeria’s most brilliant minds in governance, industry, technology, and academia. Yet in Nigeria’s power calculus, competence is secondary to ethnic arithmetic.
While the Civil War ended militarily, its political, economic, and psychological embers continue to burn. The Igbo are systematically denied access to the center of power—not by accident but because, in truth, the civil war has never ended.
A Community in Self-Denial
Tragically, many Igbo politicians live in denial, chasing illusions that political fortune will one day favor them. They scramble for crumbs rather than build a united front, failing to acknowledge the ongoing civil war, as posited by Dr. Abati. This internal disunity deepens their vulnerability and renders them pawns in Nigeria’s political chess game.
The Consequences , A Region in Crisis
The insecurity ravaging Igbo land today,the rise of armed groups, criminality, and breakdown of law and order does not occur in a vacuum. It is a direct result of decades of political ostracism, economic strangulation, and internal misgovernance. When a people are excluded for too long, societal cohesion unravels. Unfortunately, the extreme and criminal responses of disillusioned youth undermine every effort at civility.
The Path Forward , Redefining the Igbo Agenda
For the Igbo nation to break free from this vicious cycle, it must begin with self-redefinition:
Thinking Igbo First: Develop a coordinated political and economic strategy prioritizing regional integration and self-reliance.
Learning from Visionaries: Embrace developmental models championed by leaders like Dr. Alex Otti and Ndubuisi Mba, who demonstrate that good governance can transform the narrative.
Ending Illusions: Accept the harsh reality that the Nigerian state, as currently structured, will not willingly cede power to the South-East. The Igbo must innovate, negotiate from a position of strength, and abandon the fantasy of political benevolence.
Until these steps are taken, the civil war will persist,not with bullets and bombs but through policies, appointments, and the quiet violence of exclusion.
Dr. Abati was right: the war never ended. It simply changed its weapons.
