FINLAND MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN NIGERIA AND SIMON EKPA (EDITORIAL).

On Monday 24th July, 2023, the South-East was once again under lockdown due to a sit-at-home order being enforced by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). IPOB first imposed sit-at-home on September 9, 2021 to protest the incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the federal government after he was intercepted on Sunday June 27, 2021in Kenya. It later added the lockdowns to any day their leader appears in court.

With Kanu in detention, Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen and Councilor of Lahti City, was appointed IPOB spokesman and he started enforcing the lockdowns through his terrorist, Autopilot wing of IPOB.

Ekpa, armed with Finnish military training and service and as self-acclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) organization, has been directing agitation for Biafran independence, with uncontrolled bloodshed.

The road to this infamy started in December 2020, when Kanu created the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to supplant the Nigerian state as the primary guarantor of security in the region, and ostensibly a prerequisite for insurgency war. The ESN became the rallying point of all criminal elements in the region, and successfully organized jail breaks to recruits members.

Simon Ekpa

Ekpa has been using bellicose tweets and regular social media broadcasts as means of rallying these IPOB elements towards violently enforcing sit-at-home orders and launching repeated insurgent style terrorist attacks while at the same time killing and kidnapping residents for ransom. For instance, On July 7, 2023, Simon Ekpa tweeted; ‘‘Any police NG that shoot any Biafran with Biafra territory, capture him alive”. Also on July 17, 2023,  Simon Ekpa @ simon_ekpa said thus: “Nigeria aggression in Biafra territory will be repelled”.

He had enthusiastically told a Finnish local newspaper: “I condone violence against Nigerian central government forces,” and the people of the South-east by extension.

It is time Finland reins in Ekpa, and urgently too, as he threatens the peaceful coexistence of Nigerians, especially in the South-east, a once relatively peaceful zone. He must not be allowed to continue to use their base to launch his attacks, either verbal or otherwise. Finland must stop its diplomatic posturing as Ekpa is not only aiding the destabilization of Nigeria he is a present danger to and doing damage to Nigeria-Finland relations.

Nigeria needs to formally engage Finland with meticulous evidence of Ekpa’s tweets where he incited violence and called on his terrorists fighters to violently enforce sit-at-home every Monday and every other time he fancies.

Moreover, Nigeria should abstain from Finland’s celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations. It is time Finland makes a choice between Nigeria and Ekpa. 

Beyond that, Nigeria needs to take tougher diplomatic measures against Finland for habouring a man, who is an avowed enemy of a united Nigeria. And if need be, it should consider cutting diplomatic relations with the Nordic region nation. After all, you cannot hope to have excellent relations with a nation while giving sanctuary to its enemy. Nigeria must also everything within the law to arrest and prosecute Ekpa.

Daily Trust EDITORIAL.

Tuesday 25th, July, 2023.