Simon Ekpa, IPOB Factional Leader, Faces Arrest

<h4>Simon Ekpa<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Simon Ekpa&comma; a factional leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra&comma; IPOB&comma; may be arrested in the next 24 hours according to information available to OpenLife &period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ekpa&comma; a Nigerian-Finnish lawyer&comma; political activist and former athlete&comma; chiefly known for spreading fake news and allegedly inciting violence in southeastern Nigeria&comma; recently declared a sit-at-home from 23 to 28 February apparently to stop the conduct of the 2023 general elections in the region&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;On the strength of that&comma; Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs&comma; Tuesday&comma; summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria&comma; Leena Pylvanainen&comma; over threats by Biafra agitator&comma; Simon Ekpa&comma; to stop the 2023 general election in Nigeria’s south-east&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs viewed Ekpa’s instruction to his loyalists as an attempt to disrupt the presidential election is slated to be held on 25 February&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ekpa has repeatedly declared sit-at-home orders across the South-east&comma; insisting that there would be no election in the region in 2023&comma; a development that would help his faction of the IPOB to achieve the sovereign state of Biafra for Igbo-speaking people in South-east and South-south Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;During Geoffrey Onyeama’s meeting with the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria&comma; Mrs Pylvanainen&comma;<&sol;a> the Minister expressed displeasure over the recent sit-at-home orders given by Mr Ekpa to his teeming followers&comma; who he said&comma; consequently embarked on killings&comma; maiming&comma; burning and other destructive activities&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr Onyeama&comma; represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs&comma; Zubairu Dada&comma; said Mr Ekpa’s action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming election&comma; and that the Nigerian government would not take it &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;lightly” with him and the Finland government if nothing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;drastic” was not done about his threats&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We thought it was important for us to have this chat with you to let you know that&comma; of course&comma; he’s living in the comfort of his home there in Finland and we know that we have been in touch with your good self&comma;” Mr Onyeama stated&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’ve had some time to ensure that we arrest this situation but it appears the situation is getting out of hand&period; And we’re saying enough is enough&period; We should let you know&comma; in very strong terms that it’s high time you really meant and backed Nigeria with the quest that something be done immediately because he threatens the forthcoming election&comma;” he added&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Reaction on Wednesday&comma; the Finnish government&comma; through a letter cited by OpenLife instructed Ekpa to reverse his order or get arrested&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You are hereby directed to call off your planned sit-at-home by pronouncing through the same media outlets you used for your illegal pronouncement&comma; a reversal of your sit-out-home order&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr&period; Simon&comma; you have 48 hours to reverse or you will be arrested and charged with international terrorism&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;The letter is reproduced bellow<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;19653" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-19653" style&equals;"width&colon; 231px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-19653" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;02&sol;Finnish-231x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Simon Ekpa&comma; " width&equals;"231" height&equals;"300" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-19653" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Finnish Government letter to Simon Ekpa<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;