Finland police authorities on Thursday arrested a popular pro-Biafra separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa.
Report monitored on a Finland news outlet, Helsingin Sanomat (HS), said the police escorted the separatist agitator out of his apartment in Lahti.
HS claimed that they had gone to Ekpa’s residence for an interview but to their surprise, the Finland police, KRP, answered when the HS team rang the separatist bell.
The news outlet said the KRP prevented their team from entering Ekpa’s apartment and said that the interview would be moved “to the future”.
Also, when contacted, an official of the Finnish Embassy in Abuja who craves anonymity confirmed Simon Ekpa’s arrest to The PUNCH on Thursday.
“According to information available to us, the image is verified by Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper; in it, Ekpa is seen being escorted out of his home in Lahti by plainclothes Finnish police”, the embassy official volunteered.
“It is our understanding that he is currently in police custody in Finland,” the official who is not authorised to speak to the press told The PUNCH.
“According to information available to us, the image is verified by Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper; in it, Ekpa is seen being escorted out of his home in Lahti by plainclothes Finnish police”, the official volunteered.
Before his eventual arrest on Thursday, Nigerians all over the world have signed an online petition against him. The petition was delivered to the Finnish government, Nigerian Government and the European Union appealing to them to arrest Ekpa, the brain behind the sit-at-home order in the South-East.
Ekpa who is a self-acclaimed disciple of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, had repeatedly ordered the people of the South-East to observe a sit-at-home and asked them to boycott the country’s general elections billed for Saturday.
His repeated sit-at-home orders has been marked by bloodshed and destruction of lives and properties in the region by its enforcers. His latest is a threat to the general election holding on Saturday.
The PUNCH had on February 15 reported that the Federal Government of Nigeria summoned the Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, over “hate speech and incitive comments” by Simon Ekpa.
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, at the meeting with Pylvanainen, said Ekpa’s action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming election, and that the Federal Government would not take it lightly with him and the Finland government if nothing drastic is done.
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“We thought it was important for us to have this chat with you to let you know that, of course, he is living in the comfort of his home there in Finland and we know that we have been in touch with your good self.
“We have had some time to ensure that we arrest this situation but it appears the situation is getting out of hand. And we are saying enough is enough. We should let you know, in very strong terms that it is high time you really back Nigeria with the quest that something is done immediately because he threatens the forthcoming general elections.
