For years, the Finland-based Nigerian-born Simon Ekpa has been fueling insecurity in the South East through his remotely controlled Monday sit at home.
It is estimated that the Southeast loses not less than N9 billion every week as all government and commercial activities are at a standstill on the first working day of every week although activities are returning to some places on Mondays, especially in parts of Enugu where Governor Peter Mbah is championing the campaign to end the sit-at-home menace.
Through unbridled propaganda, many youths have been wrongly made to believe that Simon Ekpa is their Biafra hero and, through his directive to enforce sit-at-home, many lives have been lost, including those of security operatives. Many police barracks have been set ablaze across the states in the zone and sitting at home became a new normal at a time.
Ekpa, who hails from Ohaukwu in Ebonyi State, was an athlete and he even won a medal for Nigeria at an international competition. In the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships, held in Cameroon, Simon won the silver medal in the triple jump.
He moved to Finland in 2007 to seek treatment and surgery for his knee injury and from there, he began the life that has been causing insecurity in his home country. Surprisingly, Simon Ekpa has continued to influence gullible youths and undermine the socio-economic activities of the people of South East, even when the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had publicly dissociated the pro-Biafra group from the continued sit at home.
The question being asked is, why has Ekpa continued to terrorize Nigeria from Finland despite the existence of a diplomatic relationship between the two countries? Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, some time ago, accused Finland of shielding Simon Ekpa and demanded his arrest and prosecution.
The CDS also called on the Nigerian government to take decisive action, including exploring diplomatic options to curb the menace of the factional leader of the IPOB, who has declared himself the Prime Minister of the Biafran government in Exile.
In the words of the CDS, “We have repeatedly complained about the issue of Simon Ekpa. He is in Finland and the Finnish government is giving him all the support and he is doing what he is doing.
“The comments he is making, people are being killed and nothing is being done. This is democracy. If the European Union is supporting democracy and this is happening and they are not taking action, then they don’t mean well for Nigeria”.
For years, the people of the South East have been losing millions of naira weekly, no thanks to Simon Ekpa. Though many people tried to disobey it, they were either harassed, shot at or killed. The result is that the entire South East remained a ghost region every Monday, until recently when the present leadership in some of the states began to call the bluff of Simon Ekpa.
For instance, when Mr. Peter Mba assumed office as the governor of Enugu State last year, he banned the sit-at-home so as to revive the economy of the state. Initially, his effort was met with resistance as some people insisted on the continued Monday sit-at-home.
He even threatened business owners that they stood the risk of forfeiting their businesses if they continued to shut their businesses on Mondays. And later, he carried out the threat by sealing some business outfits that were closed on Monday when they were supposed to be open. Those whose businesses were sealed would be made to pay fines before they could reopen their businesses.
Wondering how one man could hold the entire Igbo nation to ransom, Gov Mba said his administration was considering dragging Ekpa and all the instigators of the illegal sit-at-home to the International Court of Justice at the Hague. He described Simon Ekpa as a scammer who has been feeding fat on the emotions of Igbo people and wondered why he should not be extradited to come and face the law in Nigeria.
Mba, who spoke in Enugu said: “Our people are known for hard work; that is who we are. Hard Work is in our DNA. We enjoy working hard and this man sits somewhere and tells Igbo people not to go to work. I call on our people to disregard him because we have the capacity to secure our people .
“His intimidation cannot deter us. He’s just doing this to grow his followers. It is surprising that the Finish government allows this man to reside in their country and perpetrate terrorism in Nigeria.
“We may have to set up a committee and see how this man can be brought to justice. Through his actions, a lot of people have died. So this is a tragedy that we must all work as a country to end.
“He does not represent Igbo interest. I call on the youths who fall for this sort of antics to retrace their steps because this is antithetical to our existence as a people”.
Also speaking about Ekpa, the co-chair of Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Forum, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, suggested that the federal government should lead the conversation on his possible extradition from Finland to Nigeria to face the law.
Bishop Onuoha, who wondered if Nigeria has any diplomatic relations with the Finnish government, also suggested the engagement of those who have the ear of Ekpa for a possible truce between him and government.
The cleric said:” I’m just wondering how our international diplomacy operates. What relationship has Nigeria with Finland?. A matter of this nature is a state and international issue.
“I think the federal government should go into discussions with Finland to determine what to do with Ekpa. But the truth is that it is not a minor issue. The federal government should go into conversation with Finland.
“Again, who are the friends of Ekpa? Does he not have friends? Who are those that listen to him and those he can listen to? I think at this level, we should begin to look for those who he has confidence in, and bring them to the table for conversation.”
