The arrest of Simon Ekpa, the self-declared prime minister of Biafra, has sparked ongoing reactions, with some South-East indigenous people demanding that he be sentenced in Finland.
On Thursday last week, the Finnish authorities arrested Ekpa alongside four others, and the Päijät-Häme district court subsequently detained them for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media.”
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, NBI, disclosed that Ekpa, a dual citizen of Finland and Nigeria, is suspected of public exhortation to commit offences with terrorist intent. The charges also include suspicions of financing terrorism.
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Leading the investigation, the detective, Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen, said Ekpa is suspected of using his social media platforms to incite violence against civilians and public authorities in Southeastern Nigeria.
“The suspect has furthered his efforts from Finland, resulting in violence and other crimes in Southeast Nigeria,” Hiltunen said in a statement.
Ekpa’s arrest comes amid the worsening insecurity situation in the Southeastern part of Nigeria, which has seen armed men terrorising the region under the guise of pushing for the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra.
DAILY POST reports that the armed men have been causing mayhem in the Southeast while claiming to be enforcing the Monday sit-at-home order that was first initiated by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as a measure to get the Nigerian Government to release Nnamdi Kanu.
But IPOB, which suspended the sit-at-home, had severally distanced itself from Ekpa, stressing that he’s not their member.
Commenting on the arrest, Abia South Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe said Kanu’s release remained the solution to tackling insecurity in the Southeast and not Ekpa’s arrest.
Abaribe said Kanu’s release would reveal the genuine Biafra agitators from the criminals masquerading as gunmen.
He said, “You want Biafra fine, but do you get Biafra by killing the same Biafrans you want? How does murdering people, killing people, going around killing policemen, spreading mayhem, and burning police stations help you?
“Everyone of them claims that it’s because Nnamdi Kanu is incarcerated; that’s why the Southeast is experiencing insecurity, but it will end when Nnamdi Kanu comes out, and then we now know who is a genuine agitator and a criminal.
“When Kanu comes out, then he will know his followers. Nobody will have a reason to say we are burning down this police station or killing this person.”
On his part, a retired captain of the United States Army, National Defense, and Military Strategist, Bishop Johnson, said the proper handling of Ekpa’s arrest by the Finnish government might have an impact on his incitement of violence and bloodletting in the Southeast.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Ambrose said those funding Ekpa’s operations in the Southeast will also stop if he’s held accountable in Finland.
He said: “Simon Ekpa’s arrest will have an impact on the Southeast depending on how it’s handled by the Finnish government.
“If the Finnish government holds Ekpa and his accomplices—those sponsoring his operations—accountable in Finland, not here in Nigeria, it will have an impact.
“The incitement coming from him will no longer be viable, and those sponsoring him will stop; the incitement will end; that is, if he’s held accountable in Finland.”
He, however, observed that Ekpa’s arrest might take a negative turn in the Southeast if extradited to Nigeria and detained like Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Johnson said: “If he’s extradited to Nigeria, there is the possibility that instead of his arrest having a positive impact, it might even lead to more violence because Nigeria as a country is very notorious for its abysmal human rights records.
“If you have a situation where Ekpa is extradited to Nigeria and is kept in the same condition Nnamdi Kanu is kept in, there would be those offended that two Igbo sons are dumped in the DSS dungeon and are inhumanely treated.
“So, if you have that situation, then his arrest will lead to a negative impact instead of having a positive impact. It may also lead to bloodletting and destruction in the Southeast.”
Johnson noted that Ekpa’s arrest could further inflame the Southeast if his loyalists noticed that he was not subjected to due process.
“If there is due process and he is found guilty and held accountable for all the incitement in the Southeast, but anything contrary to that, if there is jungle justice, if the judicial process is bungled, it will inflame some of the people he has here on ground, because Ekpa does not operate in a vacuum, there are loyalists who follow him.
“It all depends on how his arrest is handled and if he’s properly prosecuted, if he’s held accountable for all the loss of lives and damage to properties as a result of his actions,” he said.
He maintained that the combination of Kanu’s release and Ekpa’s arrest would go a long way in restoring peace in the Southeast.
“I think a combination of both would work because if Ekpa is held accountable for all the incitement in Finland that he created, which led to the loss of lives in the Southeast, and Kanu is released, then peace can be restored.
“Most of the time, these people that perpetrate criminal activities in the Southeast—not all of them are real agitators—there are criminals who have capitalized on Kanu’s incarceration and absence to commit all sorts of criminal activities.
“So, if Kanu is freed, we would have denied those people the excuse they used in committing crimes.
“With Kanu’s release, we will be able to separate the real agitators for self-determination from the criminal elements that have used the opportunity for their selfish interests,” he said.
Ekpa should be sentenced—Osita Okechukwu
Meanwhile, a former Director General of Voice of Nigeria, VON, Osita Okechukwu, said Ekpa should be sentenced either in Finland or Nigeria for his crimes in the Southeast.
According to the chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ekpa’s arrest was long overdue.
He told Daily Post: “His arrest was long overdue. About two years ago, I met the Director General of the NIA, and he said they were making efforts, but there were no bilateral diplomatic efforts with Finland.
“I urged him to intensify their efforts because Ekpa is a criminal and a murderer, and because of him, a lot of people have lost their lives in the Southeast.
“He has grounded the economy of the Southeast for no just cause, so I commend the diplomatic efforts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and our security agencies for the long hunt for fugitive Simon Ekpa.”
“I totally disagree with Ekpa’s strategy of committing heinous crimes against Ndigbo and grounding the Southeast geopolitical zone.
“There are better strategies to halt the marginalisation of our people, which is not by killings and maiming. I call for his sentence whether in Finland or in Nigeria,” he Okechukwu declared.
