Barely 24 hours after the conviction of Simon Ekpa in Finland, lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has described the conviction of\u00a0 Ekpa by a District Court in Finland on Monday as a long-anticipated development, given the gravity of his offenses.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor who is a human rights lawyer in statement\u00a0 said Ekpa\u2019s conviction is lesson against fraud,violence and misguided statement, warning those who believe in his evil preaching to desist.<\/p>\n
He stated Simon Ekpa\u2019s conviction in a country that upholds human rights and the rule of law, sends a signal that no amount of lies, propaganda, or fraudulent appeals to \u201cself-determination\u201d can protect a criminal enterprise built on violence, fraud, and deception.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor stated that no legitimate struggle for liberation can ever be founded on deceit, fraud, or violence,especially against one\u2019s own people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have long understood the weight of his infractions, the inherent weakness of his defence, and the inevitable collapse of the fraudulent empire he built on lies, violence, and exploitation.Those who still glorify Ekpa or follow in his footsteps are not freedom fighters they are merchants of death. The future of Ala-Igbo must never again be entrusted to impostors who exploit the pain of their people for personal gain,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
According to Ejiofor, from the very beginning when Simon Ekpa attempted to usurp the authority of the Directorate of State (DOS) of IPOB his intentions were clear. He was openly and covertly supported by individuals and groups whose sole mission was to derail the genuine quest for self-determination, sow confusion, and turn Ala-Igbo into a theatre of violence, bloodshed, and blackmail.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a time, they succeeded. Ekpa\u2019s deadly declarations, recklessly disseminated across media platforms, were embraced hook, line, and sinker by vulnerable and misguided individuals,\u201d Ejiofor said.<\/p>\n
He further explained that Ekpa\u2019s so-called \u201cfoot soldiers,\u201d whenever arrested, never mentioned his name or that of his fictitious Biafra Liberation Army (BLA). Instead, they falsely claimed to be IPOB members, thereby tarnishing the image of a globally recognized, peaceful movement.<\/p>\n
This deception, Ejiofor stated, gave the Nigerian state an excuse to brutalize innocent agitators and criminalize IPOB\u2019s legitimate efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout this dangerous era, I consistently raised my voice across all available platforms, including mainstream media urging our people to reject Simon Ekpa and his poisonous preachings.<\/p>\n
For doing so, I was attacked, vilified, and branded a saboteur simply because I chose to speak the truth,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEkpa built a criminal enterprise on deceit harvesting money from gullible followers, while feeding them fabricated lies about warships, fighter jets, and supposed dates for Biafra\u2019s independence that never came to pass.My public stance put a target on my back, marked by threats from Ekpa and his misled followers.\u201dhe said.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor decried the irony that, even after each of Ekpa\u2019s failed prophecies, many continued to applaud and fund him, while he lived comfortably abroad and young people at home paid the price with their lives.<\/p>\n
He lamented that educated elites who should have known better either defended him or remained silent out of fear or complicity.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that IPOB\u2019s leadership, under the Directorate of State, repeatedly condemned Ekpa\u2019s actions and distanced the organization from his violent tactics. Yet, certain individuals continued to offer him covert support ,some of whom are now the loudest in calling for his prosecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir silence at critical moments, remains a betrayal that history will not forget.\u201dEjiofor said.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor said Simon Ekpa\u2019s conviction in a country that upholds human rights and the rule of law, sends a powerful message that no amount of lies, propaganda, or fraudulent appeals to \u201cself-determination\u201d can protect a criminal enterprise built on violence, fraud, and deception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now imperative that our people begin to think critically and ask hard questions.<\/p>\n
No rational mind should have believed Ekpa\u2019s outrageous claims about stationed warships and combat-ready jets in Igbo land. His entire project was an elaborate scam, carefully designed to defraud the very people he claimed to liberate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor also refuted claims circulating among Ekpa\u2019s followers that his conviction somehow upheld his \u201cright to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat narrative is utterly false. The court never upheld any such right. His trial and conviction were not about any legitimate political aspiration they were about fraud, deception, and sponsoring violence against the very people he pretended to defend. That is the height of criminality,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chickens have come home to roost. But what about the thousands of lives lost due to Ekpa\u2019s poisonous preachings?Many of his misled followers remain in detention without trial. Others were killed extrajudicially. Their families continue to suffer in silence.<\/p>\n
Not one of the lawyers who secretly collaborated with Ekpa had the courage to publicly defend these victims or pursue their release.Instead, they abandoned them, while Ekpa thrived abroad,\u201d Ejiofor lamented.<\/p>\n
He called for deep reflection and a collective rejection of fraud, blackmail, and criminality as tools of agitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is time to take stock.Time to reject deceit, emotional manipulation, and false messiahs.Time to recommit ourselves to truth, justice, and a peaceful struggle for self-determination.Ekpa may be convicted today\u2014but the scars of his deceit and the destruction he left behind will take years to erase<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barely 24 hours after the conviction of Simon Ekpa in Finland, lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has described the conviction of\u00a0 Ekpa by a District Court in Finland on Monday as a long-anticipated development, given the gravity of his offenses. Ejiofor who is a human rights lawyer in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2622,4373,4372,2865,2111,3184,4374],"class_list":["post-6870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-conviction","tag-deceit","tag-described","tag-emotional","tag-manipulation","tag-self-determination","tag-struggle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6871,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6870\/revisions\/6871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}