THE government of Finland has finally succumbed to pressure from the Nigeria govt and South East groups to arrest Simon Ekpa a renegade member of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Ekpa had issued a sit at home order ordering his followers in the South East to boycott the upcoming election starting Saturday Feb. 25th.
Following his recent outburst against the election, the Nigeria government had summoned Leena Pylvanainen, the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria,
Shortly after that, a viral letter surfaced that the Finish government had issued a 48 hour ultimatum to Ekpa, ordering him to openly renounce his sit-at home order or face arrest.
Although the Finish government had denied issuing the letter, week after the denial, police in Finland has arrested the Ekpa.
According to a Finland news outlet HS, the police escorted the separatist out of his apartment in Lahti.
The platform claimed that they had gone to Ekpa’s residence for an interview but to their surprise, the Finland police, KRP, answered when the HS team rang the separatist bell.
The HS said the KRP prevented their team from entering Ekpa’s apartment and said that the interview would be moved “to the future”.
Realnews recalls that Geoffrey Onyeama , minister of foreign affairs on Tuesday, February 14, held a meeting with Leena Pylvanainen, the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, to discuss on how to arrest the inciting comments, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech by Ekpa, which could derail the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections.
At the meeting, Onyeama , who was represented by Zubairu Dada, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said that Ekpa’s action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming elections and that the Federal Government would not take it lightly with him and the Finland government if nothing drastic is not done.
He expressed displeasure over the orders given by Simon Ekpa to his teeming followers, who consequently embarked on killings, maiming, burning and other destructive activities.
He noted that Simon Ekpa is living in the comfort of his home in Finland and dishing out dangerous orders to his followers not to allow elections to hold which is threatening the peace of south-eastern Nigeria.
