Jonathan Nwokpor
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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.
Ekpa and four other people were seized by the Finnish authorities on Thursday of last week, and the Päijät-Häme district court later held them for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media.”
Ekpa, a dual citizen of Finland and Nigeria, is suspected of encouraging others to commit crimes with terrorist intent, according to the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI. Suspicions of terrorism financing are also included in the charges.
Ekpa is suspected of using his social media channels to instigate violence against people and public authorities in Southeastern Nigeria, according to Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen, the detective in charge of the inquiry.
“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 coincides with the escalating insecurity in the southeast of Nigeria, where armed individuals have been terrorising the area while claiming to be advocating for the creation of the independent state of Biafra.
The armed men have been wreaking havoc in the Southeast, according to ZINGTIE, while claiming to be implementing the Monday sit-at-home order, which was initially started by IPOB, the Indigenous People of Biafra, as a way to pressure the Nigerian government into releasing Nnamdi Kanu.
Ekpa is not a member of IPOB, which has repeatedly distanced itself from him and suspended the sit-at-home.
Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe of Abia South commented on the arrest, stating that Kanu’s release—rather than Ekpa’s—remains the answer to addressing insecurity in the Southeast.
Kanu’s release, according to Abaribe, will separate the real Biafra agitators from the crooks posing 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, 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.”
Bishop Johnson, a retired captain in the US Army, National Defence, and Military Strategy, stated that the Finnish government’s treatment of Ekpa’s detention could affect his instigation of violence and bloodletting in the Southeast.
Ambrose told ZINGTIE that if Ekpa is held responsible in Finland, those who are financing his activities in the Southeast will also cease.
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, if they hold him 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.”
However, he noted that if Ekpa is extradited to Nigeria and held there like Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, his detention might have a detrimental impact on the Southeast.
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 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 pointed out that if Ekpa’s supporters realised he was not given due process, his arrest may further enrage the Southeast.
“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 insisted that the arrest of Ekpa and the release of Kanu will significantly contribute to the restoration of 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 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
Osita Okechukwu, a former Director General of Voice of Nigeria, or VON, stated that Ekpa ought to be punished for his Southeast crimes in either Finland or Nigeria.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said that Ekpa’s arrest was long overdue.
He told ZINGTIE: “His arrest was long overdue. About two years ago, I met the Director General of 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, 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.
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