A heated national backlash has erupted after Lagos-based cleric Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele declared in a viral video that “Igbos are the problem of Nigeria… There’s a curse on you… You can’t become president of Nigeria.”
The statement, made on 16 November 2025, has been widely condemned as inflammatory, divisive, and defamatory — and is now triggering legal and civic responses across the country.
In a strongly worded letter dated 18 November 2025, public interest lawyer Maduabuchi O. Idam, Esq., demanded a full retraction and public apology from Primate Ayodele within 48 hours, failing which he vowed to initiate legal action for defamation.
Idam, a notary public and Igbo lawyer based in Abuja, said the cleric’s comments have caused “grievous distress,” noting that the remarks were not only reckless but had exposed millions of Igbos to “mockery, hatred, odium and scorn.”
According to him, Ayodele’s sweeping claim that Igbos are cursed and desperate for power is “malicious, unprovoked, and utterly irresponsible,” and has been circulated to millions of Nigerians and foreigners through social media and online news outlets.
Idam wrote:
“Your statement has impugned my integrity, diminished the way I am perceived, and sought to confine me and millions of Igbos to a position of res nullius — a people belonging nowhere.”
He added that the publication has “profoundly diminished” the dignity of Igbo people, warning that if Ayodele fails to retract the statement, he and other aggrieved citizens will pursue legal redress — especially if Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo sociocultural body, does not intervene.
CIVIC OUTRAGE GROWS AS SCHOLAR CALLS REMARK “UNJUST AND PAINFUL”
Meanwhile, in a press statement titled “Rebuttal of Primate Ayodele’s Divisive and Inaccurate Remarks,” academic and public commentator Dr. Paulinus Chikwado Ejeh issued an emotional and forceful condemnation of the cleric’s comments.
Ejeh said Ayodele’s remarks were “unjust, painful, and unworthy of a man standing on the altar of God.”
He noted that the Igbo people have endured decades of hardship — including civil war trauma, discrimination, and political exclusion — yet have remained some of Nigeria’s most resilient, entrepreneurial, and nation-building citizens.
According to him, hearing a religious leader describe such people as “Nigeria’s problem” is a deep moral wound.
Ejeh further criticised the silence of other clerics, warning that silence amounts to endorsement:
“Silence is not neutrality — it tells us the dignity of Ndigbo can be attacked without consequence.”
He urged Igbo Christians to worship in communities where they are respected rather than tolerated:
“If any church leadership refuses to reject divisive rhetoric, then it is wise to seek a spiritual home that honours your God-given dignity.”
Ejeh concluded by reaffirming the identity and resilience of the Igbo people:
“Ndigbo are not Nigeria’s problem. We are part of Nigeria’s strength, creativity, progress, and perseverance. No voice — clerical or political — can rewrite who we are.”
RISING TENSIONS AND NEXT STEPS
As outrage spreads across social and political circles, calls are growing for religious bodies, civil organisations, and state authorities to intervene. With the 48-hour ultimatum ticking, all eyes are now on whether Primate Ayodele will issue the demanded apology — or whether this controversy will escalate into a major legal and national debate over hate speech, ethnic dignity, and the responsibility of religious leaders.
