The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned against linking it to the reported conviction of Simon Ekpa in Finland, insisting that the self-acclaimed leader of the “Biafra Government in Exile” has no ties with the group or its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
In a statement on Monday, IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, accused the Nigerian government of deliberately using the conviction of Finland-based pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, as a “smokescreen campaign” to derail the ongoing trial of Kanu.
A Finnish court sentenced Ekpa to six years in prison for terrorism and tax fraud. His charges are linked to his role in a faction of IPOB, which Nigeria designated a terrorist organisation in 2017 under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The federal government, in a statement issued by Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, welcomed Ekpa’s conviction.
But reacting to the government’s position, IPOB warned that Ekpa is not a member of the group and attempts to link him to it “is a brazen fraud against truth and justice.”
“The world must know that the question of Simon Ekpa’s non-membership in IPOB is already judicially settled in Finland. IPOB under oath in a Finnish court testified that Simon Ekpa has never held any position in IPOB or ESN. Ekpa himself under oath described himself merely as a ‘content creator,’ admitted he disowned IPOB, and boasted that he would destroy IPOB,” Powerful said.
The group added that Ekpa created parallel entities such as the “Biafra Government in Exile,” “Biafra Liberation Army (BLA),” and “Biafra Defence Force (BDF),” which IPOB has consistently repudiated.
“Any narrative linking Ekpa’s personal downfall to IPOB is therefore deliberate misinformation, a calculated lie, knowingly repeated to deceive,” IPOB stressed.
The Biafran group alleged that the government’s move was a diversionary tactic designed to contaminate judicial proceedings ahead of the October 10 ruling on Kanu’s no-case submission before Justice James Omotosho.
“This is not justice. It is judicial hostage-taking — a weaponization of the courts to sustain persecution,” IPOB said.
It further appealed to the European Union, Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the United Nations to intervene and prevent what it called the perversion of justice.
“Simon Ekpa’s conviction is his burden and his alone. IPOB will never carry it,” the group declared.