Ohaneze Ndigbo increases the bounty on Simon Ekpa to $500,000 claiming he has declared war

PAN-cultural Igbo organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo has placed a $500,000 bounty on Simon Ekpa the self-proclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) claiming that he has declared war on the southeast geo-political zone.

Mr Ekpa, who lives in Finland, has assumed the leadership of Ipob following the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and has since been at loggerheads with numerous Igbo organisations back in Nigeria. On July 3 for instance, he announced a one week sit-at-home commencing from despite the mainstream leadership of Ipob suspending the exercise after several groups, individuals and state governments condemned the action due to its economic implications.

Ohanaeze has accused Mt Ekpa of declaring a second Biafra war in the southeast and has increased the bounty on his head from the $50,000 which it placed on him in January this year. Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Ohanaeze’s secretary-general, also called on President Bola Tinubu to deploy soldiers to every corner of the southeast, to combat the enforced sit-at-home exercises.

Mazi Isiguzoro said: “We are telling Tinubu that the second Biafra war has begun and he should deploy soldiers to all the nooks and crannies of the southeast. The southeast governors need help and Ohanaeze is asking them to defend themselves from external enemies.

“At this point in time, we can’t allow somebody in far-away Finland to dictate the pace. The government of Ebonyi State and the southeast must ensure that the terrorist activities of Ekpa are solved in his homeland.

“What we are saying is that Ekpa has declared a second civil war in the southeast and anybody with useful information will be given $500,000. This is a self-help to ensure that our people get a secure environment.

“The southeast governors appear to be weak and they are using the wrong approach in dealing with Ekpa. Our suspicion has been confirmed that what Ekpa is doing is to destroy the economy of the southeast.”