Igbo Face Threats In Nigeria — Is Ethnic Bloodletting Looming?

Image by Getty Images
In Nigeria, there are mounting calls to oust the Igbo population from the north of the country — and threats of violence if they don’t comply.
Now, a group of United Nations experts have “grave concern” about the possibility of ethnic bloodshed.
This summer, an ultimatum and accompanying social media campaign in the northern Hausa language urged Nigerians to destroy the property of Igbo people and kill anyone who refuses to leave the north.
“We are gravely concerned about this proliferation of hate messages and incitement to violence against the Igbo and their property,” a group of experts, including specialists on racism and racial conflict, said in a joint statement, “especially considering the previous history of such violence.”
The Igbo are one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups and live primarily in the south of the country, in a large area known as Igboland or Biafra, but also make up a large minority in other areas. In the 1960s, the Igbo made a bid for national independence in the south and a civil war engulfed the country. Millions of Igbo died as a result of fighting or starvation. National aspirations are on the rise again — and many Igbo view Zionism and the Jewish people as a model for their own goals.
While most of the 34 million Igbo are Christian, there is a widespread belief among the Igbo that they are the descendants of the biblical Israelites. In more recent decades, Igbo have been adopting rabbinic Jewish rituals and belief into religious services. The leader of the growing Igbo separatist movement, Nnamdi Kanu, calls himself a Jew and leads rallies dressed in Jewish garb. Some have converted to Judaism and there are dozens of synagogues in the country.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.