Igbo leaders’ pressure responsible for Simon Ekpa’s arrest

Thursday’s arrest by the Finnish authorities of a popular pro-Biafra separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa was received with rapturous joy and relief in many parts of the South-East and Nigeria as a whole.

It is gathered that Ekpa’s eventual arrest in his residence in faraway Lahti followed relentless pressure mounted by the Federal Government and Igbo leaders on the Finland government over his incitive comments and sit-at-home orders to the people of South-East.

Before his arrest on Thursday, thousands of Nigerians from across the world signed a petition appealing to the Finnish government, Nigerian government and the European Union to arrest Ekpa, a leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB).

Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of the detained IPoB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had repeatedly ordered the people of the South-East to observe a sit-at-home and asked them to boycott the country’s general elections, which begin on Saturday.

His repeated sit-at-home orders led to orgies of violence, bloodshed and destruction of lives and property in the region by the enforcers.

But, the Igbo community in Finland in January decried what it termed Ekpa’s “seditious statements” from Lahti in Finland and called on the Finnish authorities to restrain the separatist agitator.

In a statement by Kingsley Orji, the Igbo community called on both governments of Finland and Nigeria to commence an immediate investigation of Ekpa with a view to bringing him to justice.

The statement read in part: “There is no place on the planet where people can simply hide, incite violence, and escape punishment. Therefore, the Igbo community in Finland is calling for action as follows:

“That Simon Ekpa is immediately restrained, investigated, and made to face the full wrath of the law both in Finland and in Nigeria.

“Based on (the) Belgian law on universal jurisdiction, that the Finnish authorities should take jurisdiction right away and stop Mr Simon Ekpa from continuing to incite violence against life and people, murder of any kind, mutilation, cruelty, and violations of the right to life.

“All relevant authorities should deploy all diplomatic channels to ensure that Mr Simon Ekpa and his group are prevented from causing further damage”.

The biggest boost to the advocacy was to come through the Nigerian government when it brought its full diplomatic weight to bear on the matter. Last week, The PUNCH reported that the Federal Government summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen over the “hate speech and incitive comments” by Ekpa.

At the meeting with Pylvanainen, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama said Ekpa’s action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming elections, and that the Federal Government would not take it lightly with him and the Finland government if nothing drastic was done.

“We thought it was important for us to have this chat with you to let you know that, of course, he is living in the comfort of his home there in Finland and we know that we have been in touch with your good self.

“We have had some time to ensure that we arrest this situation but it appears the situation is getting out of hand. And we are saying enough is enough. We should let you know, in very strong terms that it is high time you really backed Nigeria with the quest that something is done immediately because he threatens the forthcoming elections.

“The sad thing is that this gentleman has a lot of followers out there. And the moment he issues these instructions, what happens is that you have destructions the very next day. They embark on killings and burning and you name it. And we believe this is not acceptable.

“It’s important to get to know that these elections are being threatened by the actions of someone and that something needs to be done immediately, to address the situation.

“This in essence is why we thought it was important for us to have this discussion with you, so as to let you know our concerns and the displeasure of the Government of Nigeria and the people of Nigeria on this very unhealthy development”, the minister, who was represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, told Pylvanainen.

Responding, Pylvanainen said: “We share very much the concerns regarding the security situation in the South-East. Yes, there are problems in other parts of the country as well. But this is an issue that we are directly concerned with. This is an issue we have been discussing, we share the concerns. We have discussed the matter and as I mentioned, our law enforcement agencies are in touch and are cooperating.

“Also, he’s a double citizen as far as I know of Nigeria and Finland, and he’s therefore as you rightly said, protected and safe and sound in his home in Finland. But we have to take his rights into consideration as well. So everything has to obviously be done according to Finnish legislation, which has very strong protections for freedom of speech”.

Last Friday, the Embassy of Finland in Nigeria refuted a letter making the rounds that the Finnish government warned Ekpa to desist from his clamour for the actualisation of Biafra republic or risk arrest and prosecution for terrorism.

The statement read: “This is to inform you that the attached letter purporting to be signed by the Prime Minister of Finland and currently circulating widely in the media does not originate from the Finnish government.

“We have reported the Twitter message with which this fake letter was originally distributed and asked Twitter to remove it. Regrettably, copies continue circulating in social media and on various Internet platforms”.

However, the police arrested and escorted the separatist out of his apartment in Lahti on Thursday morning.

An official of the Finnish Embassy in Abuja confirmed Ekpa’s arrest to The PUNCH on Thursday.

“It is our understanding that he is currently in police custody in Finland”, the official who is not authorised to speak to the press said.

By the arrest, many hope that the greatest threat to peaceful conduct of elections in the South-East region has been decimated. And peace can gradually return to the region.