The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have disowned Simon Ekpa, the controversial Biafra agitator.
Gatekeepers News reports that IPOB said Ekpa was never a member of the group as he was not a registered member of its chapter in Finland and cannot be the leader of the group.
Recall that the Finland-Nigerian municipal politician was arrested by law enforcement agents in the northern European nation on Thursday.
He was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme District court for allegedly spreading terrorist propaganda on social media.
Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful in a statement released on Friday, said Ekpa was a “destructive agent” paid to “infiltrate and destroy” the “peaceful movement” of IPOB.
The spokesman accused Nigerian and Finnish governments of shielding Ekpa from arrest.
He said, “Simon Ekpa was never and is not an IPOB member, let alone being a leader in IPOB. IPOB has some family units in Finland, and Simon Ekpa is not a registered member of any IPOB unit in Finland or any other IPOB 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.”
“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 cause.”
“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. He recruited violent criminals to destabilize the South East Region in 2021.”
“The Simon Ekpa-led group has no alliance, affiliation or relationship with IPOB family worldwide. He recruited his criminal gangs who have been terrorising the Biafran territory since 2021.”
“The Nigerian government and politicians that contracted Simon Ekpa have been making strenuous efforts to tag the violent crimes of their agent on IPOB just to blackmail and demonise the genuine and peaceful Biafra self-determination struggle of the Biafran people led by the IPOB.”
“On the purported arrest of Simon Ekpa, all IPOB members, Biafrans and lovers of Biafra freedom should remain calm and focused on our core objective which is the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra.”
