By Adadainfo
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has told Gov Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State to call Mr Simon Ekpa to order following Ekpa’s directive for a four-day-sit-at-home in South East beginning from Friday December 9 to Wednesday December 14, 2022.
Ekpa had given the order via a video broadcast ‘in preparation to stop election from taking place in Biafra-Land’. Ekpa is from Ebonyi State. Ohanaeze’s plea to Gov Umahi is contained in a statement issued by Dr Alex Ogbonnia, the national publicity secretary of Ohanaeze.
The president general of Ohanaeze, Ambassador Prof George Obiozor, in the statement, pleaded with ‘well-meaning sons and daughters of Umueziaka community, the home of Mr Simon Ekpa; the chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government, Hon Ikechukwu Odono; member representing Ohaukwu South in the State Assembly, Hon Chinedu Onah; member for Ohaukwu and Ebonyi Federal Constituency, Hon Chukwuma Nwazunku; the senator for Ebonyi North, Sen Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu, and the governor of Ebonyi State, Engr Dave Umahi, to rein in Mr Simon Ekpa and compel him to desist from his unreflective youthful exuberance’.
According to Ohanaeze, “They should remind Ekpa that the world has never recorded a freedom fighter that faces the barrel of the gun inwards.
“Elementary logic questions the rationale for a young man to wake up and begin to suffocate the very people he claims to protect. When the Igbo are undergoing excruciating hardship arising from orchestrated injustice, a young man or rather a self-styled hero will be busy crippling the Igbo economy, thereby adding salt to injury.”
Ohanaeze also lamented a recent order issued by the national president of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, asking ‘Southeast youths to arm themselves for self-defence’ following the recent killings of some natives of Eha-Amufu in Isi-Uzo LGA of Enugu State by alleged herdsmen.
The statement described attitudes of Ekpa and Igboayaka as ‘digging abysmal pits for themselves’, adding that, “Our major concern is that all these unguarded, inflammatory, subversive and incendiary broadcasts by these later-day Biafran warriors, in their delusions, constitute monumental problems for the Igbo in relation to the larger Nigeria.
“Ohanaeze wonders how somebody that proclaims himself a leader will neither seek the opinion nor weigh the aspirations and political barometer of his people before going gaga. For purpose of clarifications, Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then military governor of the Eastern Region, made several consultations and finally summoned a meeting of almost all the important dignitaries in the Eastern Region [before declaring Biafra].”
Ohanaeze said the economy of the region is being crippled because of the excesses of the likes of Ekpa.
Dr Ogbonnia recalled how Anambra State Professor Charles Soludo expressed unhappiness that Anambra, and indeed the whole of the Southeast, were losing billions of naira in revenue as a result of the boycott of activities on Mondays.
Soludo, stated Ohanaeze, said ‘a lot of businesses are relocating outside Igbo land because of the Monday sit-at-home’.
According to Ohanaeze, “It is intriguing that the mainstream IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, through Emma Powerful, has long distanced itself from the Monday sit-at-home, yet every Monday has remained sacrosanct in most parts of South East.
“It is therefore both incomprehensible and irreconcilable for the likes of Mr Simon Ekpa to contemplate more days for the sit-at-home or what he called ‘under lock and key’ in the name of Biafra.
“We therefore pose a question to Mr Ekpa, as to whether he is a hero or a villain?”
Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), rose to prominence in July after he was announced as the lead broadcaster of Radio Biafra.
The Finland-based activist was appointed to replace Kanu following the re-arrest of the IPOB leader by the federal government.
According to publicly available records, Ekpa was born on March 21, 1985. He hails from Ohaukwu LGA, Ebonyi state. Aside from being a controversial agitator, he also identifies himself as a human rights activist, Finnish politician, lawyer and CEO of Ekpa & Co Oy, an organisation that provides legal services in immigration matters and asylum issues in Finland.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he holds a degree in law from the Aberystwyth University, Wales. He also claims to be a doctoral student at the Academy of Business Management in Switzerland, also known as the Open University of Switzerland. His firm also does multi-lingual consulting.
