Follow Us on Google
From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has condemned the decision by Finnish authorities to schedule the trial of Simon Ekpa, self-acclaimed leader of the Biafra Liberation Army, on May 30, 2025, a day IPOB designates as Biafra Heroes Day to honour fallen Biafran war martyrs.
IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful, in a statement issued to newsmen on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, described the trial’s timing as a deliberate attempt to portray IPOB as a criminal organisation, despite the group’s public disavowal of Ekpa.
He said: “We condemn in the strongest terms the decision of the Finnish authorities—undoubtedly influenced by the British Foreign Office—to schedule the trial of Simon Ekpa on May 30th, a sacred day for Biafrans when we honour the memory of our five million martyrs murdered during the genocidal war against our people.
“This provocative timing is not a coincidence. It is a carefully calculated insult designed to mock our pain, distort our history, and distract from the continued illegal detention and persecution of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“Let it be made unequivocally clear: Simon Ekpa is not a member of IPOB. He has been publicly disowned by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu himself. During his court appearance in Finland, Ekpa described himself as a ‘content creator’—not a freedom fighter, not a representative of IPOB, and certainly not a defender of the Biafra cause.
“Any attempt by foreign or Nigerian media to link his actions to IPOB is fraudulent, lazy, and malicious.
“We know who is behind this drama. It is the same British establishment that supervised the slaughter of 5 million Biafrans and the abduction and extraordinary rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in violation of international law.
Other News
“It is the same British government that remains deafeningly silent on the daily atrocities committed by Fulani terrorists across Nigeria.
“If Britain invested even a fraction of the energy it uses to fight IPOB into stopping Fulani terrorism, Nigeria would not be a slaughterhouse today.
“Britain’s obsession with IPOB and the Biafra cause is not only hypocritical, it is dangerous. It emboldens genocidal actors in Nigeria, fuels instability, and makes a peaceful resolution to Nigeria’s deep-rooted challenges ever more difficult.
“Instead of addressing the root causes of disintegration—mass poverty, systemic injustice, and ethnic domination—Britain and her Finnish surrogates want to put the blame on IPOB, the only peaceful and progressive organisation in the whole of Africa.
“We remind the world that IPOB is not a terrorist organisation. We do not engage in armed struggle. We are guided by international law and the right to self-determination as enshrined in the African Charter and the United Nations Charter.
“Any attempt to associate us with the actions of an individual who has no link with our movement is a political fraud and will be resisted.
“As we prepare to mark Biafra Heroes Day on May 30, 2025, we urge all Biafrans and lovers of freedom around the world to remain focused. The enemies of our struggle are trying to provoke us. They want to rewrite our story. They will fail,” Powerful stated.
