The Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, has described self-acclaimed member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, as a bandit leading terrorists to destabilise the South-East region.
Ekpa, who claimed he was disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), rose to prominence in July 2021, after he was announced as the lead broadcaster of Radio Biafra.
Some people have been reportedly killed by miscreants enforcing a five-day sit-at-home order issued by him, despite opposition by IPOB.
Ekpa in a viral video had ordered the people of the South-East to observe a sit-at-home from December 9 to14, 2022 – an order that has been marked by bloodshed and destruction of lives and properties in the region by its enforcers.
Although IPOB, through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, denied ever issuing any sit-at-home order on the days mentioned above, violence had continued to reign in the region.
Speaking while addressing stakeholders and party members of the All Progressives Congress on Thursday, Umahi said that Ebonyi State could not be part of Biafra, while lamenting the continued killings and destruction of lives and properties in the region.
He said, “When this agitation for Biafra started, I told them that this matter would go beyond Nnamdi Kanu. And today, it has gone beyond Nnamdi Kanu. Every criminal says he is IPOB. Every criminal says he is ESN.
“Now, we have another bandit they call Simon Ekpa. Is this the Biafra we desired? To be killing ourselves and displacing others. That’s why we said in the heat of that crisis that Ebonyi State can never be part of Biafra. We are not Biafra.
“If Biafra is to be killing ourselves, to go to the market and start shooting people that have done nothing, to be declaring sit-at-home in our homeland and destroying the economy, for what reason? These things are strange to our culture.
“We have phones, and we call our people to call us on phone and tell us where these people are. The police and Ebubeagu security outfit are on ground. I warn politicians who use these boys. They are the ones that go to court to sue Ebubeagu. They go to national television to condemn Ebubeagu.
“They have killed a lot of Ebubeagu people who are trying to protect our people. I ask all the local government people to give us information because we are ready to enter into the forest to flush out these bandits.”
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