- IPOB has accused its factional leader, Simon Ekpa, of conspiring with the Department of State Services (DSS) to bring the group down
- IPOB has urged its members to disregard Ekpa while challenging him to serve orders to IPOB members without using Kanu’s name and see if anyone would listen to him
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused its factional leader, Mr Simon Ekpa, of conspiring with the Department of State Services (DSS) to bring the group down.
Mr Emma Powerful, the group’s publicity secretary, stated this in a statement issued on Monday and made available to newsmen in Awka, Anambra state.
According to the statement, Ekpa was trained by the DSS and sent into IPOB as a mole in 2016.
Since the arrest of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu in 2021, the Finland-based separatist leader has assumed leadership of IPOB but later declared himself Prime Minister of the Biafra Government in Exile.
In the southeastern region, he was responsible for the declaration of a civil disobedience order, also known as a sit-at-home.
Ekpa has also threatened many people who disobey his orders, and he is believed to be responsible for the violence perpetrated by some hoodlums on innocent people during sit-at-home days in the South East.
IPOB has consistently distanced itself from its activities, but Ekpa insists that his actions are aimed at ensuring Kanu’s release as soon as possible.
Powerful said;
Ekpa was prior to this period groomed by the Nigerian DSS to usurp the leadership of IPOB in 2016 but that evil plan failed woefully.
Simon Ekpa was the same person as the faceless Okwudili that DSS created in 2016 as the new leader of IPOB, when our leader was in detention in 2016. Prior to this time, Simon was a hater of Ndigbo and particularly IPOB in Finland. IPOB members in Finland will attest to this.
Simon Ekpa is the exclusive project of Nigerian DSS, to create a situation of unrest and hostilities in the South East which the end product was to destroy the image of IPOB.
According to the statement, if it was not so, the federal government would have taken certain steps to arrest his activities in the zone.
It stated;
Why is Nigeria government not making any effort to diplomatically engage Finnish Government about visible hostilities of Ekpa? Why did Nigeria suppress the Legal Investigation of Ekpa in Finland, also his court cases in Nigeria?
According to the statement, if the federal government was serious about putting an end to Ekpa’s misbehaviour in the zone, it would have directed DSS to allow Kanu to address his followers via his social media channels.
It also urged its members to disregard Ekpa while challenging him to serve orders to IPOB members without using Kanu’s name and see if anyone would listen to him.