By Ozodinukwe Okenwa
Simon Ekpa (also known as Ifeanyi Njoku), the Finland-based Nigeria-born Biafran self-styled secessionist activist, was born on March 21, 1985, in Ohaukwu LGA, Ebonyi State in South-eastern Nigeria. He leads the so-called “Auto Pilot”, a terrorist group terrorizing citizens of Biafraland. He is said to be a ‘disciple’ of the incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu, prior to his illegal kidnapping and rendition to Nigeria from Kenya, had appointed Ekpa as a broadcaster on the pirate international Radio Biafra.
Ekpa is a Finnish citizen and he is reportedly married to a Finnish woman and the marriage is blessed with kids. Ekpa holds a degree in Law from the Aberystwyth University, Wales.
A lawyer and CEO of Ekpa & Coy, an organisation that provides legal services in immigration matters and asylum issues in Finland, he is a former track and field athlete who represented Nigeria at different competitions including the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships in Cameroon where he won a silver medal for the country.
Simon Ekpa is in the news lately following the online petition being signed by angry Nigerians calling for his arrest for “terrorism and genocide” in Biafraland.
Recently the Finnish-Nigerian had declared unilaterally a 4-day sit-at-home in the South-east region and it led to deaths and destruction of properties. Basking in the euphoria of the ‘success’ of the operation that crippled economic activities in the region he had declared that there would be no elections in Biafraland next year!
And now he is saying that there will be no elections in the entire Biafraland next year during the general elections. Does it not amount to utter balderdash for anyone in their right senses to want to scuttle or sabotage a crucial poll in which Igbos are declared candidates (including Peter Obi of the Labour Party?)
His uncompromising violent approach and attitude towards the protracted struggle for the soul of Biafraland has seen him going it alone, issuing orders online on behalf of the detained Kanu. While IPOB management had issued disclaimers in the past denouncing his meddlesomeness Ekpa has obdurately carried on as if anyone had appointed him as Kanu’s successor. He goes about the struggle with criminal petulance.
Well, Ekpa can best be described as an opportunist and confusionist, one sowing sorrow, tears and blood from Finland in Biafraland. Despite his impressive academic and professional profile the 37-year old must let Biafrans be. We do not subscribe to his mindless terrorism.
Today, Igboland has lost its soul on the alter of terrorism. State and non-state terrorists are running wild, unleashing unprecented violence, arson and mayhem on the populace east of the Niger. They have effortfully imposed a state of siege, the rule of arms on the rest of us!
Yet, we, the Igbos, are not known globally for violence and desecration of values. Our blessed land was brimming with hope and glory made possible by the entrepreneurial ingenuity of our hard-working people. Our enemies and traducers can conveniently accuse us of being materialistic and politically divided but they can never associate the average Igbo man with laziness, unproductivity and unpatriotism.
Yes, the resonating cry against injustice, inequality and marginalization is real. Yes, the Igbos deserve a shot at the presidency post-Buharism in the spirit of fair-play, equity and justice. Yes, too, we deserve much better in the crooked contraption called Nigeria. But all these historic Igbophobic exhibitions by the Fulani-dominated Federal Government pale into insignificance if we allow ourselves to be terrorized by providing the alibi for the state-sponsored terrorism of our people.
Recent reports indicated that one of the defense lawyers of Kanu, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had instituted a suit against Ekpa and his cohorts. And millions of Nigerians had initiated a petition online asking for Ekpa to be arrested for his subversive activities.
Ekpa is all out to make name and money for himself by propagating hate and disharmony. He calls his traducers ‘efulefus’ but the real ‘efulefu’ may be found in whoever he is or believes in.
Ekpa is overreaching himself by taking reckless unilateral decisions. The IPOB family had disowned him labelling him a traitor and impostor. Yet he continues the grandstanding hubristically pretending to be doing good for our people in the South-east region. But he is doing more harm than good.
The crucial questions worth asking at this critical juncture are these: who the hell is Simon Ekpa? Who, for hell’s sake, is this Finnished (nay finished) rebel in a rebellion? What is his pedigree and interest in the violent campaign for the actualization of the sovereign state of Biafra? Is he still under the tutelage of Kanu? And a bonafide member of the IPOB? What does Mazi Kanu make of his overbearing actions and activities?
For us, therefore, Simon Ekpa (or Ifeanyi Njoku) is nothing but a huge polarising distraction. He cannot lay any genuine claim to Ojukwuism! He does not have what it takes to liberate a great people subjugated. And above all, you cannot wage or win a battle for freedom from abroad!
Whenever he is ready to sacrifice his comfort and return home to join the struggle for the Biafran emancipation then we can take him seriously. For now, he must give us a deserved break!
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu must make his position known publicly about the ‘boy’ from Finland acting on his behalf. Barristers Ozekhome and Ejiofor, who regularly visit him inside the DSS detention facility in Abuja, must inform him about the Simon Ekpa conundrum and his position on the matter.
To all intents and purposes we hold that Ekpa is a glorified rebel in a rebellion. And dealing with such a rascal requires unity of purpose and exposure of his crimes against his own people.
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
