Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council calls Simon Ekpa an Igbo enemy for demanding five day sit-at-home

OHANAEZE Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (ONYCW) has lashed out at the self-declared interim leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) Simon Ekpa for ordering a five day sit-at-home protest across the southeast geo-political zone.

Ipob has been campaigning for the recreation of the independent republic of Biafra which broke away from Nigeria between July 1967 and January 1970 during the civil war. Its leader Nnamdi Kanu, who has leading the secession calls, was abducted in Kenya last year and flown to Nigeria where he is currently facing treason charges.

To protest Mr Kanu's arrest, Ipob calls for weekly sit-at-home campaigns every Monday, which have been very effective across the southeast geo-political zone with widespread compliance. Over the last year, however, the frequency of the sit-at-homes has reduced significantly and ONYCW has asked Ndigbo to resist the latest calls to continue, which it said are sponsored by the enemies of Ndigbo through Simon Ekpa.

On July 10 2021, Mr Ekpa was named as the new head of Radio Biafra with a mandate to produce the daily broadcasts with call for the creation of an independent nation of Biafra. Mr Ekpa, who holds a PhD degree in law, is a human rights activist and a legal researcher who hails from Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, where he holds a chieftaincy title.

Earlier this week, Mr Ekpa ordered Ndigbo to stay at home for five days. In a swift response to the call, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, the ONYCW president said it was now clear that Mr Ekpa was being sponsored by enemies of Igboland, asking how any right thinking person would ask people to sit-at-home for five consecutive days at a time the country’s economic woes were biting harder.

Mazi Nnabuike said: “We are a few days away to the Christmas and New Year celebrations with a lot of bills for parents to pay, including house rent and school fees by January. However, someone who is in far away Finland, in the comfort of his room is telling parents and breadwinners to stay at home for five days.

“It is even more curious that the said Ekpa has no regards for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers, yet he claims to be Kanu’s disciple. The Ipob leader, Kanu spoke this week through his lawyer that he did not give order for any sit-at-home. He spoke on the economic implications on the same people he is fighting for their freedom. So whose interest is Simon Ekpa serving?

“A clear analysis of his statement clearly showed that enemies of Ndigbo paid him to ensure a total destruction of the southeast economy. Both Ekpa and his sponsors are enemies of Ndigbo and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu but we will no longer allow their reign of terror to continue. This will not be allowed to happen.”

Dismissing the call, Mazi Okwu urged the people of the southeast to ignore what he called a baseless and senseless order. He added that this is more so as the Ipob leadership has also come out to declare that there is no such sit-at-home.”