PEACE IN THE SOUTH-EAST!: End of the Road for Simon Ekpa, Pro-Biafra Agitator

November 24, (THEWILL) – Two days after Simon Ekpa’s arrest and remand in a Finnish prison last Wednesday allegedly for terrorism, his hitherto perceived larger than life image as a major force in the agitation for self-determination in southeastern Nigeria hit rock bottom.

Finland’s Central Criminal Police confirmed last Thursday that his arrest alongside four others was tied to a preliminary investigation into crimes allegedly committed with terrorist intent.

A district court of Päijät-Häme remanded him after the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) charged him and four other men for alleged terrorist offences. The Finnish authorities “alleged that Ekpa used social media platforms to spread separatist propaganda, incite violence and encourage illegal actions, which had caused significant disruptions in the southeast of Nigeria.”

“This activity has been carried out, among other means, via social media channels,” said Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen.

According to THEWILL’ s checks in the South-East geo-political zone, the arrest of the self-styled Prime Minister of the Biafran Government in Exile by Finland’s Central Criminal Police is being applauded by most people in Igboland, though a very insignificant few still frown at the development.

The reason for this general applause, this newspaper has learned, is not far- fetched: his sit-at home orders have been losing appeal recently since the man for whom the prolonged sit-at-home directive on Mondays is being enforced as a protest against his detention, Nnamdi Kanu, has since appealed that the directive be stopped. Kanu, the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has insisted that people in the region are already endangered on all aspects of national life and things should not be made worse for them through the economically damaging sit-at-home order because of his incarceration since October 15, 2015, on charges bordering on alleged terrorism. Ekpa’s arrest and detention has reinforced the merit of this appeal.

With Ekpa’s arrest therefore, some of his die-hard followers in the South-East will in all likelihood jettison the agitation in order to survive because their mentor’s arrest and detention will seriously impact the sponsorship and funding of insecurity in the region.  And likely, the insecurity in the South-East will begin to improve.

Indeed, this challenge on insecurity in the South-East is on Ekpa, according to investigation. If his faction of IPOB is strong and well-structured as he claims, then, his followers in the South-East should have been calling on the Federal Government to discontinue with the pursuit of his extradition from Finland to Nigeria to face the weight of the law and by implication, continue the prosecution of the stay-at-home order.

“The major cause of insecurity in the South-East is Kanu’s continued detention”, a top government official told THEWILL anonymously on Friday night in Owerri, the Imo State capital. “If Ekpa is extradited and swapped with Kanu, insecurity will automatically vanish in the South-East,” the official added.

This sounds like a subtle campaign for the release of Kanu, a campaign that Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State recently re-ignited three years after the last of the first republic parliamentarian and Aviation Minister, Mbazulike Amechi, who passed on recently, led a powerful Igbo delegation to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari at the Villa, Abuja, to seek the release of Kanu, in November 19, 2021.

This sentiment is pervasive now in the region, following Ekpa’s arrest as many think that he worsened the insecurity in the region through his active prosecution of Monday sit-at-home orders, which Kanu has since renounced.

But while the elite are cautious in making comments as many prominent persons asked to be excused from commenting, “until things become clearer,” Ekpa’s co-agitators are vocal in denouncing him to the public.

IPOB, OHANAEZE JUBILATE

Infuriated by the BBC linking Ekpa to its organisation, IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, at the weekend insisted that the Nigerian-Finnish citizen is neither a member nor a leader of the organisation.

Powerful restated the commitment of the proscribed IPOB to achieving Biafra’s independence through non-violent means, specifically via a United Nations-supervised referendum.

According to him, “Simon Ekpa has never been a member of the global IPOB family movement. Contrary to the deliberate misinformation from the BBC, Simon Ekpa is not an IPOB leader. He is not a registered member of any IPOB unit in Finland or globally.

“IPOB, established by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is a peaceful movement dedicated to seeking Biafra’s independence through non-violent means. We have never resorted to violence or armed struggle despite provocations from successive Nigerian regimes.”

He further accused Ekpa of forming the Biafra Liberation Army, which it described as a violent faction that contradicts IPOB’s principles.

Powerful also expressed disappointment with individuals whom he claimed initially supported Ekpa, believing he was genuinely committed to the Biafran cause.

“Unfortunately, some innocent Biafrans, passionate about restoring the sovereignty of Biafra, were misled by Ekpa’s actions. It has since become clear that he is a destructive agent, paid to infiltrate and undermine our peaceful movement. Now he has said that he is not a prime minister of Biafra and that he is an ordinary member. He is not our member.” he added.

Earlier, the Igbo social and political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, also hailed Ekpa’s arrest and called for his prosecution for fuelling unrest in the region.

The Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, noted that the arrest and detention of Ekpa would resolve the prolonged insecurity problems currently plaguing southeastern Nigeria.

Isiguzoro hinted that Ekpa’s plan to unveil a map and publicly declare a Sovereign Biafra Nation on December 2, 2024, had heightened tensions in the region and further undermined the concerted efforts of many prominent sons and daughters at home and abroad to resolve the impasse which has cost the region “22 trillion naira in investment opportunities, thereby stifling the economic viability of our region.”

“His intentions could have sparked uncontrollable civil unrest and perhaps culminated in another Biafran War, a prospect that the Igbo people have conclusively rejected and remain unprepared to engage in.” Isiguzoro said, adding that, “Upon this crucial arrest, Ohanaeze Ndigbo categorically denounces the notion that individuals like Simon Ekpa possess the capability or legitimacy to summon the Igbo Nation into a conflict. This organisation acknowledges Ekpa’s disturbing record over the last three years, wherein he has systematically wreaked havoc upon the very fabric of our society and economy, implementing his illegitimate Monday Sit-At-Home directive with the aid of armed men who have terrorised our communities.”

He maintained that the Igbo seek a restructured Nigeria that would foster peace, dialogue and development, rather than engaging in perpetual conflict for the sake of prosecuting an exclusive, self-destructive agenda.

Secretary to the State Government of Enugu State, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, at the weekend expressed joy at the news of Ekpa’s arrest and detention. Promising that the state government would willingly provide evidence of his harmful activities on the lives and property in Igboland, Onyia said, “Ekpa has, for too long and unfortunately from Finland, made a living by creating a siege mentality in the South-East. His arrest and trial will no doubt strengthen peace, security and stability in all parts of the South-East.”

BOTTLENECKS AHEAD

Although the Federal Government at the weekend attributed Ekpa’s arrest to sustained diplomatic pressure on Finland to act against his alleged role in fostering violence and instability in Nigeria’s South-East region and disclosed ongoing diplomatic efforts to extradite him to Nigeria for prosecution, experts think the Nigerian Government is engaging in a wild goose chase.

They point out Ekpa’s Finnish citizenship, his party affiliation as member of the governing National Coalition Party in Finland since 2017 and the lack of an extradition treaty between Nigeria and Finland, despite both countries being signatories to the Rome Statute, which enjoins member countries to cooperate in the prevention of terrorism and conflicts detrimental to their interests.

Lawyer, Chukwuma Ezeala and a National Security Risk Strategist, Vine Onyekwelu, a former British police officer, who spoke to a national television at the weekend, agreed that while the arrest and detention of Ekpa was a welcome development, considering his open insurrectional activities in the Southeast, the road to bringing him to justice may be paved with obstacles.

“Does Nigeria have a bilateral agreement with Finland on terrorism? If it does, Ekpa can be extradited because what he has been arrested for is a crime, the act of terrorism which includes instilling fear in a civilian population and using arms to achieve a political goal in the course of which people get killed,” Ezeala said.

Since Nigeria has no extradition treaty with Finland, Onyekwelu expresses certainty that Ekpa would have his day in a Finnish court to defend himself against terrorism allegations. He fears that the “human rights records in Nigeria, considering the way the authorities handled #EndSARS protesters, the #EndBadGovernance protesters and the trending video of an army general and guard molesting a Nigeria couple, will fail the European Union human rights test and prove a stumbling block to any extradition request on Ekpa.”

 EKPA’S RECENT ACTIVITIES THAT EXPOSED HIM

Mr Ekpa is known to have been using his social media handles to advocate a secessionist agenda, issue illegal orders and solicit funds for suspected terrorist activities. On July 3, 2023, for example, he posted on his verified X handle that “50 men and 50 women were needed to fund the Biafra movement with $10,000 monthly for the next six months, with the promise that this would lead to the restoration of Biafra by the end of 2023.”

On October 23, 2024, Ekpa wrote on his X account that the current Director- General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, facilitated a World Bank and IMF loan of $57.5 billion to the Biafra Republic Government in Exile to form our government after December 2, 2024, declaration of Biafra. He denied the tweet after Iweala denied the statement as false and outrageous, “which no sensible person would believe.”

He also claimed to have engaged the services of lobbyists in the United States to advocate for support for a sovereign of Biafra, prompting the Nigerian government to urge the incoming Donald Trump presidency to distance itself from him. Then, he had scheduled the unveiling of a map for his intended Biafra territory to be launched on December 2, 2024.

WHAT NEXT FOR IPOB?

With the group’s two prominent figures, Kanu and Ekpa incarcerated over alleged terrorism, the question begging for answer is who fills the leadership vacancy that their absence has created?

THEWILL recalls that Ekpa rose to prominence after Kanu’s arrest in 2015 and began issuing directives on social media to his local foot soldiers in the Southeast from his Finland base, until he was arrested and detained by Finnish police last Thursday. As at press time on Saturday, no person has laid claim to the leadership position, according to THEWILL checks. IPOB through its spokesman, Emma Powerful, has however vowed to press on with its separatist agenda though through peaceful means.

 FG NOT LOSING SLEEP

Welcoming the development on Ekpa arrest and detention, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Defense Headquarters described it as a critical step toward addressing security concerns in the South-East, indicating that diplomatic efforts were afoot to extradite him to Nigeria for prosecution.

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the weekend confirmed its commitment to monitoring the legal proceedings in Finland.  Acting spokesperson of the Ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the arrest followed high-level engagements between the two countries aimed at neutralising transnational threats to Nigeria’s national security.

According to Mr Ebienfa, his arrest follows sustained diplomatic pressure by the Federal Government on Finland to act against his activities, which were linked to violence and instability in the South-East of Nigeria. He said the arrest of Ekpa was a significant development in addressing the activities of IPOB and neutralising the influence of transnational actors and their impact on our national security.

The Federal Government, he added, was closely watching the legal case in Finland and would pull all the stops to have him extradited to Nigeria.

In their separate reactions, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, and the Director of Defence Information, Tukur Gusau, described Ekpa’s arrest as a major victory in the fight against terrorism and expressed hope that the arrest, “will be a step towards his extradition to Nigeria so that he will face justice.”

Efforts to get official reactions from the presidency were unsuccessful. But a presidential aide who spoke to THEWILL anonymously said tersely, “The law is taking its course, let it take its course.” The aide reiterated that Ekpa’s arrest is the culmination of a series of diplomatic efforts by Nigeria, most recently in August this year when a delegation of Nordic Countries, comprising Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland paid a visit to Nigeria and discussed trade, security issues.

THEWILL recalls that during that visit, Elina Valtonen, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland disclosed that the Finnish Government would cooperate with the Federal Government to resolve the Ekpa issue. She said the Finnish authority took notice of the request and discussed it with the Nigerian authorities in full collaboration, adding that “the entire process is within our judicial system, in Finland, we operate very strictly by the rule of law.”

Indeed, the Federal Government had made unsuccessful and repeated efforts to extradite Mr Ekpa to Nigeria to face prosecution.

In the heat of the 2023 general election, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, over a threat by Mr Ekpa to disrupt the country’s polls.

Former Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, had visited the Finnish Ambassador and requested the Finnish Government to accede to Nigeria’s request to arrest Mr Ekpa over threats to disrupt the exercise.

Responding, Mrs Pylvanainen had pledged that “everything has to obviously be done according to Finnish legislation.”

As things stand now, nobody wants to touch Ekpa until the courts pass a verdict on his case.