IPOB lawyer explains why young Igbo people are hesitant to join the military

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Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to detained leaders of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has said the low enlistment of South-East youths into the Nigerian Army stems from distrust of the military rather than a lack of courage.

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Ejimakor made the remarks in a post on X on Thursday, reacting to comments credited to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, who had lamented the persistently low turnout of South-East recruits at a passing-out parade at the Nigerian Army Recruits Training Depot in Amasiri-Edda, Ebonyi State.

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Ejimakor argued that Igbo youths’ reluctance to join the military stems from a sense of marginalisation within what he described as an ethnically unbalanced security leadership structure, and from a belief that the armed forces have repeatedly been used against Ndigbo during periods of crisis.

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“The reluctance of Igbo youths to enlist in the Nigerian armed forces is not a deficit of valour, but a calculated refusal to serve an institution they deeply mistrust.

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“Historically and presently, Ndigbo face systematic marginalisation within an ethnically unbalanced leadership structure in Nigeria’s security services. More critically, the armed forces are repeatedly weaponised against Ndigbo in times of crisis,” he said.

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He pointed to the anti-Igbo killings by soldiers in Northern Nigeria in 1967, describing it as an unhealed wound that he said has been “constantly reopened” by more recent incidents involving youths suspected of IPOB links, citing the Nkpor, Aba prayer ground, Obigbo and Port Harcourt incidents as examples.

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He also said South-East youths are unsettled by the enlistment of former Boko Haram fighters who have gone through the military’s deradicalisation programme, arguing that serving under a command they distrust, alongside ex-insurgents, was a compromise many were unwilling to make.

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Ejimakor concluded that the low enlistment figures amount to a form of quiet protest rather than an absence of patriotism.

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“To ask them to bleed under a biased command, alongside former terrorists, is a compromise of dignity they refuse to make,” he stated.

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Shaibu’s appeal, which prompted Ejimakor’s post, is one of several such calls Army authorities have made in recent months.

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Military officials have repeatedly noted that South-East states consistently record among the lowest numbers of applicants during recruitment exercises nationwide, with unfilled slots reallocated to other regions.

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The Army has attributed the trend partly to misinformation about the enlistment process and has said recruitment is merit-based and transparent.

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