Ipob disassociates itself from Simon Ekpa following his arrest saying he has never been their member

SECESSIONIST group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has disassociated itself from the self-styled Biafran prime minister Simon Ekpa who was arrested by Finish authorities yesterday for probable cause to incitement with terrorist intent.

Mr Ekpa, a Finnish-Nigerian municipal politician, was detained by the Päijät-Häme District Court on probable cause for incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent. According to his charge sheet, the alleged offence occurred in Lahti in Finland on August 23, 2021 and now the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation is also seeking the detention of four additional men on terrorism-related charges.

Over recent months, Mr Ekpa, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Biafra Government in Exile has called for sit-at-hones every Monday across the southeast geo-political zone and his orders have been ruthlessly enforced. Reacting to his arrest, Ipob said that Mr Ekpa is neither a member nor its leader.

Ipob spokesman Emma Powerful, reaffirmed the organisation's non-violent stance and condemned Mr Ekpa for forming a violent group known as the Biafra Liberation Army, which he said undermines Ipob's principles. He denied any connection with Mr Ekpa, emphasizing that Ipob remains peaceful and focused on achieving Biafra’s independence through a United Nations-supervised referendum.

Mr Powerful added: “The attention of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra has been drawn to the news of the arrest and subsequent claim by the infamous prime minister of the Biafra Government in Exile Simon Ekpa of being an Ipob member. To set the records and facts straight, Simon Ekpa has never been a member of the global Ipob family movement.

“Contrary to the deliberate and malicious misinformation from the neo-colonialist news agency, the BBC, that Simon Ekpa is an Ipob leader. Simon Ekpa has never and is not an Ipob member, let alone being a leader, Ipob has some family units in Finland and Simon Ekpa is not a registered member of any Ipob unit in Finland or any other unit globally.

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu established Ipob as a peaceful movement to seek Biafra independence via a supervised UN referendum. Ipob is a peaceful global movement that has never taken to violence or arms struggle in two decades of our self-determination struggle and even though the various some regimes in Nigeria have provoked us, we have remained resolutely peaceful.

“It was unfortunate that some innocent Biafrans being passionate for the restoration of the stolen sovereignty of the Biafran nation, thought that Simon Ekpa was genuinely sympathetic to the Biafra course. Sadly, they had to learn the hard way that he was a destructive agent paid to infiltrate and destroy the Ipob peaceful movement for Biafra self-determination."

Mr Ekpa, who has represented Finland's National Coalition Party in local roles, currently serves on Lahti's public transport committee. In 2023, Finnish police detained Mr Ekpa on suspicion of fundraising fraud but released him that same evening.