The Ibo State Union

Endowment Fund. Ibo National High Schools. Ibo State Union Headquarters. 1954.

The Ibo State Union was the main pan-ethnic Igbo organisation from 1948-1966. It started out as the Ibo Federal Union founded in 1944 by the leaders of the Lagos Ibo Union.

In 1943, Dennis Chukude Osadebay, the general secretary of the Ibo Union in Lagos who represented the Asaba Union, launched a campaign to federate all Igbo unions throughout Nigeria resulting in the formation of the Ibo Federal Union in 1944 which later became the Ibo State Union.

The Ibo State Union's goal was for solidarity among the Igbo people as well as support for educational development. Formed by elite Igbo nationalists, the union also functioned as an anti-colonial and nation-building organisation and supported an agenda for Nigerian independence.

The Ibo Federal Union, once headed by Nnamdi Azikiwe and renamed the Ibo State Union in 1948, produced an Igbo national anthem and once planned for a national bank of Igboland. The union also made the 6th November 'Ibo National Day.' The union was close with the NCNC.

The Ibo Federal Union became the Ibo State Union at a 1948 pan-Igbo conference at Aba in order “to organize the Ibo linguistic group into a political unit in accordance with the NCNC Freedom Charter.”

The Ibo State Union was banned in 1966 along with other political parties by the Aguiyi-Ironsi regime through decree 34 of May 24. During its existence, the Ibo State Union was one of the most influential ethnic organisations in Nigeria.