By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has distanced itself from Simon Ekpa, the controversial pro-Biafra agitator recently arrested in Finland on suspicion of terrorist activities.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued Friday, IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful clarified that Ekpa was never a registered member of the separatist group, let alone a leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimon Ekpa was never and is not an IPOB member,\u201d said Powerful. \u201cHe should not be associated with IPOB because we do not support the violent agitation he represents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powerful accused Ekpa of orchestrating violent acts under the guise of Biafra agitation, including recruiting criminals to destabilize Nigeria\u2019s southeast.<\/p>\n
He claimed Ekpa\u2019s activities, carried out under the banner of the self-declared Biafra Government in Exile (BGIE) and its militant wing, the Biafra Liberation Army, had tarnished IPOB\u2019s image.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate that some Biafrans mistook him for a genuine advocate of the Biafra cause.<\/p>\n
“They have now realized he is a destructive agent paid to infiltrate and derail IPOB\u2019s peaceful movement,\u201d Powerful stated.<\/p>\n
Though Ekpa once identified as a disciple of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, he was dismissed from his role as director of Radio Biafra in 2021 for allegedly refusing to follow the group\u2019s rules of engagement.<\/p>\n
Following his removal, Ekpa created a splinter faction known as Autopilot and later declared himself \u201cprime minister\u201d of BGIE.<\/p>\n
Ekpa\u2019s faction has been linked to violent attacks and killings in the southeast, which IPOB vehemently denies any involvement with.<\/p>\n
Powerful urged the media and authorities to stop associating IPOB with Ekpa\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo person or institution should link Simon Ekpa to IPOB unless they are part of a conspiracy to blackmail and demonize us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As IPOB continues to advocate for Biafran self-determination, it insists its methods remain peaceful and non-violent, contrasting sharply with Ekpa\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0 The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has distanced itself from Simon Ekpa, the controversial pro-Biafra agitator recently arrested in Finland on suspicion of terrorist activities. In a statement issued Friday, IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful clarified that Ekpa was never a registered member of the separatist group, let alone a leader. \u201cSimon Ekpa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":56795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56794"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56848,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56794\/revisions\/56848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}