Abstract
Marginalization stands out as one of the main culprits blamed for the poor state of development in the South Eastern (S/E) part of Nigeria. This marginalization mantra has continued to serve the interest of deceptive political office holders within the Zone by helping them mask the true picture of governance at the State and the Local Government levels. Among others, this study seeks to interrogate whether the issue of S/E marginalization is real or imaginary; the extent to which marginalization has contributed to the poor level of development in the S/E; and the role good governance can play towards reversing the current developmental deficit being blamed on marginalization. This study is qualitative in nature and sourced data from secondary sources as well as unbiased observations of the researcher. Findings reveal that, in as much as there exist cases of marginalization of the S/E within the Nigerian polity, bad governance at the levels of the State and the Local Government remain a serious factor that generate developmental challenges in the Zone. The implication is that even if the cases of marginalization at the national level are eliminated, the Zone would continue to face developmental challenges due to bad governance existing internally. It is recommended that the South East must enthrone good governance in order to contain the marginalization syndrome and engender development. One sure way of achieving this is for the people to always demand for accountability from all the levels of government.