Finland authorities have allegedly arrested a popular pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, who ordered for sit-at-home in the South-East of Nigeria during the upcoming elections. With barely 48 hours to the Nigerian presidential and national assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, February 25, Ekpa was arrested in his residence in Lahti, Finland, according to the Finnish news outlet Helsingin Sanomat (HS). HS claimed they went to Ekpa’s apartment to conduct an interview with the Biafra separatist but met plain clothes operatives from the Finnish police, Keskusrikospolissi (KRP) in Ekpa’s apartment, who told the news outlet that the interview would be moved “to the future”.
Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has repeatedly issued a sit-at-home order in the South-East region of Nigeria, which has been marked with violence and destruction in the region by his enforcers.
He has continuously issued death threats to anyone seen not observing his order and he recently threatened that election in the South-East should be boycotted, adding that his enforcers would kill anyone going against his orders.
The Finland-based lawyer usually posts very subversive messages against Nigeria and its leadership on his personal social media pages and he increased his comments after the re-arrest and repatriation of Kanu to Nigeria in June 2021.
Ekpa’s comments on social media platforms have been linked to the high rate of kidnappings and murders plaguing the South-East, which prompted the Nigerian government to summon the Finnish ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen to a meeting on February 15, asking the European country to intervene in putting a stop to Ekpa’s “hate speech and incitive comments”.
The Nigerian government told the Finnish ambassador that Ekpa’s activity is a serious national security threat to the forthcoming elections and urged the government of Finland to quickly intervene.
Nigerians worldwide also signed a petition which appealed to the Finnish Government, the European Union and the Nigerian government to immediately arrest Ekpa because he was the mastermind behind the current violent and destructive sit-at-home in the South-East region of Nigeria.
The news of Ekpa’s arrest has elicited positive comments by Nigerians on various social media platforms.