Defence Chief accuses EU, Finnish Govt of supporting IPOB’s Simon Ekpa

– Says, ‘They don’t mean well for Nigeria’

Olaolu Bilau, Abuja

Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa has accused the Finnish Government and the European Union of supporting the self-acclaimed prime minister and factional leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa.

General Musa spoke on Wednesday at a Security Summit and Townhall programme organised by Channels Television in Abuja.

Finland-based Ekpa has been declared wanted by the Nigerian Government for masterminding the sit-at-home orders and the violent confrontation between security forces and fighters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast of the country.

The Chief of Defence expressed frustration at the Finnish Government’s lack of cooperation in the Nigerian Government’s effort to arrest Ekpa.

He said, “We have repeatedly complained about the issue of Simon Ekpa. He is in Finland. The Finnish Government is giving him all the support and he is doing what he is doing.”

The CDS wondered why the EU and the Government of Finland have refused to act despite the threat posed by Simon Ekpa’s utterances. He accused both parties of complicity in the activities of the wanted IPOB factional leader.

“With the comments, he (Ekpa) is making; people are being killed, nothing is being done and this is democracy. 

“If the European Union is the one supporting democracy and this is happening and they are not taking action then, they don’t mean well for Nigeria.

“Look at it the other way, assuming he is in Nigeria and doing that to the Finnish Government, do you think the European Union will allow that to happen? They definitely will not. So, why do they allow him to do what he is doing? 

General Musa emphasized the need to deploy diplomacy in arresting and prosecuting Ekpa, saying”We have said that in clear terms, we need to diplomatically get him out of whatever he is doing. He must be arrested, he must be prosecuted.”

He added that the capacity of the government to trail the source of funding for terrorism is crucial in the fight to eradicate the menace.

” I know the Central Bank and the NFIU are doing a lot in tracking down how the fund flows and this is part of what we call the oxygen of terrorism. Its logistics, leadership and funding. 

“Your ability to be able to tackle those things and trail them and deny them the ability to operate would kill terrorism with good governance,” he concluded.