When the news of arrest and detention of the leader of factional Indigenous People of Biafra broke on the international and local media platforms on Thursday, what may have come to mind of any reasonable and responsible citizen should be “what a good riddance to bad rubbish”, given his act of terrorism and atrocities of high proportion against the State and humanity especially in the South Eastern Nigeria.
Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian citizen who is based in Finland had over the years sponsored, promoted, aided and abetted terrorism in the South East which is an industrial region of the country. The South Easterners are the most industrious, if this is not an exaggeration, the most resourceful and businessmen of the country, but met brute attack, carnage, human and material waste over the years due to terrorism orchestrated from far away Finland in guise of fight for the independence of the region.
The sit-at-home order every Monday across the South Eastern State by the Simon Ekpa-led faction has crippled businesses of South Easterners thereby incurred loss of humongous amount of money. Though, this order is unwanted and unwarranted, the Igbo people cannot ventilate their frustration for fear of attack, hence, they are forced to live by the order until help could come from anywhere.
It is no gainsay the fact that there have been endless killing in the South East, destruction of properties, fear of investment and even the relocation to other parts of the country due to Ekpa-led terrorism linked to IPOB operatives.
The Eastern Security Network, ESN, an armed arm of IPOB has wrecked the six States comprising the region and they continue to remain a nightmare to the rest people. The operatives are armed with dangerous and sophisticated weapons and well-funded from Finland. No thanks to Simon Ekpa, an acclaimed Prime Minister of Biafra in Diaspora.
We demand therefore extradition of Simon Ekpa in accordance with the Nigerian laws, but due process must be followed with convincing evidence of terrorism. Government must mobilized the legal instruments and take advantage of Finnish laws to bring Ekpa home hale and hearty to face terrorism charges once and for all.
All security agencies as well as Interpol must be patriotic enough to ensure the success of extradition of Mr. Simon Ekpa as there can be no better time than now to activate legal instruments and ensure Ekpa faces justice over sin against his fatherland.
Extradition being a process that involves the transfer of an individual from one State to another, usually through a treaty or agreement between the two nations remain the legal process of bringing Simon Ekpa home as the citizens are eagerly waiting to see justice to have been done.
We therefore, urged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi to activate the relevant provisions of the 2004 Extradition Act to ensure Mr Ekpa is brought home to face the charges. In this way, Nigerian would earn respect in the Committee of nations as fight against terrorism would have been taken to the global level.
