The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council has rejected U.S. military intervention in Nigeria on religious grounds, urging President Donald Trump to instead support a referendum to address national crises and Christian killings.
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) has rejected the proposed U.S. military intervention in Nigeria, as announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, describing it as counterproductive and calling instead for an urgent referendum to resolve Nigeria’s political and religious crises.
Addressing journalists in Owerri on Wednesday, the OYC National President, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, said the Igbo people appreciate America’s concern over the killings of Christians but insisted that military action should “persuade the Federal Government to initiate an urgent referendum within a political framework.”
“A referendum is currently the most pressing requirement for Nigeria,” Igboayaka declared, stressing that the killings of Christians—particularly in the Southeast and Middle Belt—had worsened since 2015.
He cited findings from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which reported that between 2015 and 2024, 46,800 Christians were killed, while 125,000 were reportedly killed nationwide from 2009 to 2023.
The group urged Trump to “commemorate a mass burial” for 20 IPOB protesters killed by Nigerian troops in 2017 while celebrating his U.S. election victory, and to call for the release of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.
OYC maintained that the killings stem from “economic interests, ethnic cleansing, and political oligarchy,” warning that without a referendum, Nigeria risks religious and ethnic war.
“The lasting solution,” the group concluded, “lies not in military action, but in a national referendum.”