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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described Nigeria’s election cycle as a waste of time, calling instead for a referendum to allow Nigerians to decide their political future.
In a press statement issued on Thursday and signed by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, the group said the debate over the 2027 general elections cannot resolve Nigeria’s foundational political crisis.
According to IPOB, the core issue is not the choice between political figures such as Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu or Peter Obi, but whether the constituent peoples of Nigeria have been given the opportunity to decide if they want to continue under the current political arrangement.
“The peoples trapped in this colonial construction named Nigeria should determine, peacefully and democratically, the future they want,” the statement said, adding that its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has consistently placed referendum and self-determination at the centre of its demand.
The group likened repeated elections to “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
IPOB drew comparison with the United Kingdom, noting that while Britain constructed Nigeria, it allows a referendum as a constitutional instrument.
The statement cited the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 1997 devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales, and the 1998 vote in Northern Ireland on the Belfast Agreement.
It further referenced a memorandum signed on 14 September 2026 in Cardiff by the leaders of Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National Party and Sinn Féin, affirming the right to self-determination, and a symbolic parish vote in the Oxfordshire village of Piddington where residents voted on leaving the United Kingdom.
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“If a referendum can settle constitutional questions in Britain, why should the peoples of Nigeria be permanently denied the same opportunity?” IPOB queried.
The group argued that elections decide who governs, while a referendum decides what political arrangement the people consent to live under.
IPOB also cited comments by former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan to support its position.
It quoted Obasanjo as saying at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi on 11 August 2026 that Africa was given Western liberal democracy by colonial masters with “no African context, no African content.”
It also quoted Jonathan as saying in September 2023 that since the 1914 amalgamation, Nigeria had failed to integrate into a proper nation.
IPOB said a referendum would not predetermine the outcome, but would allow the people to choose whether to remain together under a new constitution, adopt a different federal arrangement, or pursue self-determination.
