Biafran Government in Exile’s Perspective on AIYF’s Demands

2027: No votes without Nnamdi Kanu’s release — Igbo youths

The All Igbo Youth Forum’s (AIYF) threat to boycott the 2027 Nigerian general elections unless Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is released reflects deep-seated grievances among some Igbo youths regarding Kanu’s detention and perceived marginalization of the Igbo people.

The Biafran Government in Exile (BRGIE), views the All-Igbo Youth Forum’s (AIYF) demand for Nnamdi Kanu’s release and threats to boycott Nigeria’s 2027 elections with both support and critique. The BRGIE strongly endorses the call for Kanu’s release, seeing his detention since June 2021 as a symbol of Nigeria’s oppression of Igbo aspirations. However, it diverges from the AIYF’s conditional engagement with Nigeria’s political system, rejecting electoral participation entirely as legitimizing an illegitimate state.

The BRGIE dismisses the AIYF’s push for Igbo inclusion in federal appointments and a Southern presidency in 2027 as futile within Nigeria’s flawed framework, arguing that only full Biafran independence can address historical marginalization.

It supports the AIYF’s planned mass protests but would reframe them as steps toward sovereignty, not reform. The BRGIE also echoes the AIYF’s criticism of Igbo elites collaborating with Abuja, urging grassroots mobilization over dialogue with Nigerian authorities.

While aligned on Kanu’s release, the BRGIE sees the AIYF’s strategy as a half-measure, advocating for complete disengagement from Nigeria to achieve a sovereign Biafra.