Gen Christopher Musa Simon Ekpa
The Chief of Defence Staff, CDS) Major General Christopher Musa, has vowed that the military would go after the likes of Simon Njoku Ekpa, the suspected terror sponsor in the South-East and prominent member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) who he said is still undergoing prosecution in Finland following his arrest by the Finnish authorities November last year.
Giving an update on the Finland-based Ekpa’s arrest when he fielded questions on Channels Television programme, Politics Today on Thursday night, General Musa expressed relief that since his arrest, there had been relative calm in the South-East.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that Ekpa, who describes himself as the Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in-Exile (BRGIE), was arrested and detained in Finland on charges of alleged terrorism.
Announcing Ekpa’s arrest alongside four others, Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, (NBI) in a statement, said, “This activity has been carried out, among other means, via social media channels”.
The NBI stated that its investigation focused on “a Finnish citizen of Nigerian descent, born in the 1980s, suspected of publicly inciting crimes with terrorist intent. The police also suspect four other individuals of financing terrorism. All five were apprehended earlier this week”.
General Musa stated that “I think he’s still undergoing prosecution in Finland and so we’re hopeful. You can see when we talked about him, people felt we were just making noise. But you can see, since he had been arrested, the South-East is getting better. And so, the likes of him, we’re going to go after them, wherever they are; and whatever it takes.
“And that is why the Ansaru guy too is a good win for all of us. Other ones who are following them, other ones that we don’t talk about, we will also look out for them and be able to pull them out, and I think clearly, we’ll do that”.
Recall that Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, announced to journalists last Saturday, the capture of Mahmud Muhammad Usman and Mahmud al-Nigeria, said to be leaders of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, commonly known as Ansaru. They were said to have been captured during a “targeted operation” between May and July.
Ansaru broke away from Boko Haram in 2012, setting up its base in Kano. Its members, many of them Western-educated, rejected Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau for being too extreme but turned out to be even more vicious.
The jihadist group is responsible for several high-profile attacks, including a 2022 brazen jailbreak in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, during which hundreds of inmates were freed from the Kuje Correctional Centre.
The CDS described the arrest of the two Ansaru leaders as significant, attributing the feat to the synergy among the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Navy which executed the operation with thorough planning.
He said, “What has changed is that we have synergy with all the organisations… and that is why we have seen all the successes,”
General Musa said towards a more coordinated approach to fighting terrorism, he would be hosting all his counterparts in Africa beginning Monday next week.
The CDS said, “In order to achieve more, because no nation is an island, we are also organising our African Chief of Defence Staff conference, starting on Monday, where all the Chiefs of Defence Staff in Africa, for the first time, are coming to Nigeria for us to discuss because we see that these insurgents are not respecting any border.
“Mozambique is facing issues. Ghana is beginning to face issues. Burkina Faso, Mali and all other areas. So, it is important that we come together as brothers and sisters, discuss our problems and proffer solutions”.