The Igbo nation marked 2025 World Igbo Day on September 29, 2025, in Awka, Anambra State .
September 29th every year is significant as it’s a day of reflection for thousands of Igbo’s killed in northern Nigeria on September 29, 1966, which sparked the civil war .
Ohaneze Ndigbo, traditional rulers and stakeholders used the occasion to call on President Tinubu to release the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu
The President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Senator Azuta Mbata, explained why the World Igbo Day, marked 29th of September every year, is significant and remarkable to Ohaneze and the Igbo people worldwide .
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization leader explained that the 29th September marks the day thousands of Igbo people were gruesomely massacred in the Northern Nigeria on 29th September, 1966, a development he said formed part of the reason the Nigeria/Biafra war was fought.
Freedom Square TV gathered, according to Legit.ng that the president who was
represented by the National Vice President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prince Okey Nwadinobi, Sen. Mbata urged for unity in Nigeria, and asked that such should not be allowed to happen again in Nigeria.
In his words, “We’re here today, not in celebration, but in commemoration; to remember thousands of our brothers and sisters, who were gruesomely massacred on 29 September, 1966, in the northern Nigeria; as well as some others killed in similar manner before and during the war. Our collective prayer is that the blood they shed for the survival of the Igbo nation and its people shall not be in vain.
Continuing , “today, we can boldly say that we stand for one united Nigeria. Ndigbo have sacrificed so much for the development and survival of this project called Nigeria. We also ask that we be integrated and treated as part of the Nigerian nation. We do not request preferential treatment. We asked that Ndigbo be given its rightful place in the country.”
Governor Charles Soludo also echoed the need to release Nnamdi Kanu. Soludo recalled that when Nnamdi Kanu was first arrested under the administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari, he was the first person who led a delegation to visit the IPOB leader at the Kuje Prison; adding that he also wrote a letter to the former president to release him.
In his words , “ today, again, I join my voice with those of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, and other well meaning Nigerians, to still request President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to graciously hear our prayers and release Nnamdi Kanu.”