In a significant step towards addressing insecurity in the Southeast region, pro-Biafran agitator, Simon Ekpa was arrested and remanded in custody last week in Finland. He was arrested alongside four others on suspicion of terror-related activities, including incitement to violence and terrorism financing. According to the Finnish police, Ekpa allegedly used social media to promote violence in the South-East region, targeting civilians and the authorities. Expectedly, the federal government is excited, describing the arrest as a critical step in addressing the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) activities and mitigating the influence of transnational actors on Nigeria’s national security.

While the Defence headquarters has hailed the arrest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has promised to monitor the legal proceedings and provide further updates as the case progresses. Many stakeholders in the Southeast have also expressed their delight with the development. “The arrest is something that is very welcome because this will tell all those people at home, who are purveyors of violence instigated by Simon Ekpa that he actually said that he is just a content creator and not a serious person,” the Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said.

A self-proclaimed ‘Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government-in-Exile’, Ekpa has for years launched a vicious media campaign for the dismemberment of Nigeria with incitement that those who represent symbols of authority in the Southeast be killed. His strident calls for boycott of the 2023 general elections in the Southeast led to violent enforcement measures and attacks on some residents. Indeed, his activities have prompted several petitions from authorities in Nigeria, urging the Finnish as well as the European Union, to arrest him. Perhaps due to the calls, the Finnish government had cause to quiz Ekpa sometime last year on inciting the public to violence.

In the absence of any serious containment measures, hoodlums and freelance criminals of all hues have seized the entire Southeast zone by the jugular. In the process, hundreds of innocent people, including personnel of the army and the police, have been killed, some of them summarily executed in the streets. Besides, an ill-conceived series of disruptions to social and economic life under the guise of the sit-at-home order has led to ruinous impact on the domestic economy. Meanwhile, Ekpa has constantly promoted violent repercussions on those who violate the sit-at -home order, even after the IPOB hierarchy has called it off.

A more worrisome aspect of the sit-at-home regime has been a colossal decline in business transactions and general shrinkage of economic opportunities. The net loss to the economies of the affected five states in the zone has been calculated in trillions of Naira. The extensive economic haemorrhage is multiplied by the fact that most citizens in the Southeast operate in the informal sector as traders, shop owners, artisans, craftsmen, industrialists, wholesalers, and retailers of a motley of merchandise.

Shutting down the economic space and closing schools in the entire zone has been IPOB’s most effective way of popularising its grievances and most of the orders are publicly given by Ekpa. But people complied not necessarily in willing obedience to the separatist argument but rather because they were mostly afraid for their lives and the safety of their property from rough enforcers, violent vigilantes, and plain thugs who act on the orders from Ekpa. To compel the citizenry to go about their normal legitimate undertakings, the security forces often come into violent confrontation with these armed miscreants.

Last week, Finnish authorities hinted that cross-border cooperation is integral to what will likely be an extensive investigation into the trial of Ekpa that has been scheduled for May 2025 while he remains in detention. There is no other way out. International collaboration is at the heart of unearthing the crime, the grievances and sponsors of Ekpa and cohorts, in the bid to address what has been an unmitigated disaster for Nigeria. We urge the authorities to fully cooperate with the Finish government and avail them of all helpful information. Thereafter, all diplomatic measures should be put in place to ensure Ekpa is brought home to face justice. (THISDAY Editorial)