‘He was never our member’ — IPOB disowns Simon Ekpa

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says Simon Ekpa, the controversial Biafra agitator, was never a member of the group.

IPOB said Ekpa was not a registered member of the group’s chapter in Finland and cannot be the leader of the group.

On Thursday, Ekpa, a Finland-based secessionist, was arrested by law enforcement agents in the northern European nation.

He was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.

Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.

In a statement on Friday, Emma Powerful, IPOB’s spokesperson, said Ekpa was a “destructive agent” paid to “infiltrate and destroy” the “peaceful movement” of IPOB.

Powerful accused the Nigerian and Finnish governments of shielding Ekpa from arrest.

“Simon Ekpa was never and is not an IPOB member, let alone being a leader in IPOB. IPOB has some family units in Finland, and Simon Ekpa is not a registered member of any IPOB unit in Finland or any other IPOB unit globally,” the statement reads.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu established IPOB as a peaceful movement to seek Biafra Independence via a supervised UN referendum.

“IPOB is a peaceful global movement that has never taken to violence or arms struggle in two decades of our self-determination struggle.

“It was unfortunate that some innocent Biafrans, being passionate for the restoration of the stolen sovereignty of the Biafran Nation, thought that Simon Ekpa was genuinely sympathetic to the Biafra cause.

“Sadly, they had to learn the hard way that he was a destructive agent paid to infiltrate and destroy the IPOB peaceful movement for Biafra self-determination. He recruited violent criminals to destabilize the South East Region in 2021.

“The Simon Ekpa-led group has no alliance, affiliation or relationship with IPOB family worldwide. He recruited his criminal gangs who have been terrorising the Biafran territory since 2021.

“The Nigerian government and politicians that contracted Simon Ekpa have been making strenuous efforts to tag the violent crimes of their agent on IPOB just to blackmail and demonise the genuine and peaceful Biafra self-determination struggle of the Biafran people led by the IPOB.

“On the purported arrest of Simon Ekpa, all IPOB members, Biafrans and lovers of Biafra freedom should remain calm and focused on our core objective which is the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra.”

DIVISION IN THE CAMP

After Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest in June 2021, Ekpa was appointed to manage Radio Biafra, the broadcast wing of the proscribed group.

Weeks after the appointment, Powerful announced that Ekpa had been sacked from the role due to his “refusal to sign the rules of engagement of Radio Biafra”.

The development caused a division in the leadership of IPOB with Ekpa going on to create his own faction.

After breaking up with IPOB, Ekpa began attacking the management of the group while issuing counter orders — including directives on the controversial sit-at-home in the south-east of Nigeria.

On numerous occasions, IPOB’s leadership dissociated themselves from the sit-at-home directives issued by the Ekpa faction.

The Ekpa-led faction was blamed for the escalating violence in the south-east, including the killings of police officers and soldiers.

Recently, Ekpa declared himself prime minister of the Biafra government in exile (BGIE) and created an armed group called ‘Biafra Liberation Army’.

Using social media platforms, Ekpa spreads disinformation about happenings in the south-east, shares gory images of killings of security agencies by non-state actors, and calls for the destruction of public facilities.