Published 21st Nov, 2024

By Abimbola Abatta

Simon Ekpa, the self-styled Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in-Exile (BRGIE), is a controversial figure known for using social media to incite violence under the guise of the Biafran independence struggle.

On Thursday, a Finnish court remanded Ekpa on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.

Ekpa’s involvement with activities in the name of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) gained prominence around 2021. He would later establish BRGIE “to undertake the political and administrative governance of the Biafran nation from outside the Biafra territory”, according to information obtained on its website.

His social media pages, especially on microblogging platform X, show that he frequently called for sit-at-home orders in Nigeria’s southeastern region, which have resulted in economic disruptions and repeated violence.

KILLED POLICEMEN

Ekpa claimed responsibility for the killing of four policemen in Owerri, Imo State, in July.

On the evening of Monday, July 29, during one of the sit-at-home curfews, BLA fighters attacked four police officers at a security checkpoint along Owerri-Onitsha road in Imo state. All four of them were shot dead, with only the driver escaping with injuries.

While admitting to his involvement in this crime via an X post on July 29, Ekpa wrote: The Biafra Defence Forces Owerri Command has recovered weapons from the terrorists after neutralising them in numbers. Withdrawal of all the Nigeria terrorists from Biafraland is the demand and we approach declaration in December.

FIJ understands that he tends to call Nigerian police officers and soldiers “terrorists” either when announcing how his followers had killed them or while calling for their killings.

SOLDIERS KILLED

Gunmen suspected to be Biafra agitators killed two soldiers during an attack at a military checkpoint in Abia State on November 13.

Also, some gunmen who were said to be enforcing a sit-at-home order to mark the Biafra Day killed at least four soldiers in Abia on May 30.

On Ekpa’s X page, FIJ found several posts, where he stated that the Biafra Liberation Fighters would continue to hunt for “all terrorists in uniform, especially the Nigerian army anywhere they are seen in Biafra territory”.

Another post about neutralising police and soldiers.

INJURED AND DEAD CIVILIANS

In the July attack that led to the death of four policemen, the Biafran fighters killed a Point of Sale (PoS) merchant and shot at civilians in Imo State.

“Aside from the police people they killed, they were just shooting at people indiscriminately as if they wanted people to go home,” a witness told Premium Times.

Six residents were killed at Ama Hausa in the Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo.

In July 2023, some Biafra members also brutalised a tricycle rider in an unconfirmed location in the southeastern part of Nigeria for not observing a sit-at-home order. Three armed agitators hit the man with the butts of their guns.

CROWDFUNDING TO FINANCE MILITIA OPERATIONS

FIJ gathered that Ekpa facilitates weekly online sessions to raise funds for various reasons, ranging from the “restoration of Biafra” to “Biafra Republic Finland Redeclaration” and “Biafra Convention”, among others.

According to a HumAngle investigation, the group raised about $109,000 through these fundraising events in June.

The investigation revealed that the fundraising was to finance the operations of the group’s militia in southeastern Nigeria. They also use part of the funds to buy weapons, such as guns and bullets.

SIT-AT-HOME ORDERS

Whenever the Biafran agitators put out sit-at-home orders, schools offices and banks, among others, are compelled to shut down all operations. Failure to do so could be disastrous.

In 2021, an Abia State resident lost his mother due to the sit-at-home order that frustrated efforts to get medical help for her.

A mechanic lost his life in 2021 because he disobeyed the order. Enforcers of the sit-at-home order would sometimes destroy local businesses and even set fire to vehicles transporting travellers in the affected regions.

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