IPOB Sues Simon Ekpa, As Ndigbo Fight Back

By Charles Igbo

In an ironic twist, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, has sued Mr Simon Ekpa over his activities in Igboland, and the turn the sit-at-home order has taken.

Ekpa, a self proclaimed disciple of IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and an estranged member of IPOB, has been working at cross-purposed with the Group, and issuing a counter order to any order given by Kanu and IPOB.

For instance, while IPOB has since cancelled and/or restricted the sit-at-home order to only the days Kanu would appear in Court, Ekpa has continued to encourage the every-Monday sit-at-home order with all the violence that accompanies it. There are also other areas of disagreement.

While IPOB says it will not stop South-easterners from collecting their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, and has no business preventing the 2023 General elections in the South-east, Ekpa asked people not to dare, and declared there will be no election in the Zone in 2023.

Ekpa, Finland-based, was unknown until the Nigerian Government renditioned Kanu from Kenya, put him in custody, and began his prosecution at a Federal High Court Abuja on sundry allegations, including terrorism and treasonable felony. That was when Ekpa surfaced and introduced himself as Kanu’s disciple. He was soon to fall out with the IPOB leadership because he was behaving and talking as if he had become Kanu’s successor.

IPOB initiated the sit-at-home order to protest the prosecution, continued detention of Kanu, and to pressurise the Federal Government to release him unconditionally. At the beginning, the order was against every Monday, and the days Kanu would appear in Court. It was violently enforced with its attendant blood letting, loss of lives and destruction of people’s businesses and livelihood.

A combination of condemnation and pressure forced IPOB to review it, especially, as its leadership began to appreciate the pains the people they said they are protecting were going through.

But Ekpa refused to accept the review and since then, Ekpa’s boys have, according to IPOB, been on rampage in a bid to enforce the order. And innocent blood of the Igbo flows.

IPOB has continued to condemn Ekpa, and distance itself from his activities.

A few days ago, Ekpa’s new order pushed the Igbo to rise in anger. He had declared a five-day sit-at-home order, beginning from December 9, to coincide with the dates the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, mapped out for the final collection of PVCs. The order was to stop the Igbo from collecting their PVCs.

The order stung millions of Ndigbo who felt they have had enough of the disruption of their lives by the continous orders from Ekpa.

IPOB was the first to denounce Ekpa’s order. They asked Ndigbo to ignore it as it neither came from them nor authorised by Kanu.

Thousands of people began to attack Ekpa on all platforms. They asked who gave him the power to run their lives. They asked the Federal Government to go after him, through the Finland Government, and extradite him to Nigeria for prosecution.

In a statement, on Monday December 12, after series of fatal attacks across the South-east by gunmen, Ohanaeze Ndigbo asked for Ekpa’s arrest and prosecution wherever he is.

The statement signed by Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Secretary General of the  unrecognised faction of Ohanaeze reads in part:

NDI IGBO CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATE ARREST AND REPATRIATION OF SIMON EKPA TO NIGERIA

“Ndigbo has identified Simon Ekpa as the overseas provocateur and instigator for the current killings in Imo state, the destruction of public properties in Enugu State, and disturbance of public peace and sporadic shootings in Ebonyi State.

Ndigbo calls for the immediate arrest, and repatriation of Simon Ekpa, to Nigeria, he’s a trickery man and criminal hiding behind Finis citizenship and Biafra agitation to wreak havoc, extort monies from Nigerians abroad, and influence the insecurity challenges against Ndigbo.”

Kanu, from detention, lamented the violence and loss of lives which followed Kanu’s current order.

On Tuesday, December 13, IPOB took a legal step to stop Ekpa’s activities in Igboland. It sued him.

IPOB Counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against Ekpa. In the suit, Ejiofor accused Ekpa of issuing “violent, disturbing and false declarations  about South-east sit-at-home”

In a Facebook post, Ejiofor said: ” I, also, want to assure Simon Ekpa and his cohorts affected by this compelling legal action, that no matter the Country you people believe to be hiding under its sovereign protection, the full arms of the law shall certainly catch up with you all in the legal onslaught already commenced. This is just one in the long line of compelling civil and criminal  litigation coming your way.”

This could, finally, spell the unravelling of Simon Ekpa