The Quest for Secession by Nigeria’s Igbo Indigenous People and the Right to Self-Determination in International Law

Abstract

The right to self-determination is important in international law. Although the details of its content, scope and application have always been contested from its earliest adoption, it has been accepted that self-determination is a dynamic concept, which has assumed different meanings in different contexts. Consequently, while the right to self-determination in the context of decolonisation was conterminous with the external form of self-determination, in the post-colonial era, the right to self-determination has assumed a new ‘internal’ meaning under which ‘indigenous peoples’ in the social, cultural and ethnological sense, can claim a right to political autonomy, representation, participation and decision-making, especially in matters that affect them. As a result, this article argues that the strict identification of the right to self-determination with political independence from a sovereign state by secessionist groups (especially, groups representing the Nigerian Igbo ethnic tribe) and some academic scholars in Nigeria is ill-conceived, reductionist, and lacks both legal validity and practical merit. It suggests that embracing the internal form of self-determination potentially promises the best path to realising self-determination and progressive development for sub-national entities in Nigeria. The article adopts the doctrinal and comparative methods of legal analysis.