HOW  THE SUN NEWSPAPERS REFUSED TO PUBLISH THE PRESS STATEMENT FROM IGBO COMMUNITY IN FINLAND CONDEMNING THE ACTIVITIES OF SIMON EKPA USING BIAFRA FRANCHISE.


11 February 2023


In the past 18 months, the South-East has been under unimaginable siege by state and non state actors, spilling blood in violent activities especially on the Sit@Home order, which was proclaimed by Nnamdi Kanu led IPOB, recently called of by IPOB and now being taken advantage of by a group known as Autopilot under the leadership of Simon Ekpa which is not part of IPOB. 


This situation has kept Ndiigbo worried and all avenues to get the situation under control had to be pursued.


This brought about the intervention of the many Igbo organisations like World Igbo Congress (WIC), Igbo World Assembly (IWA), Council of Igbo States In Americas (CISA), European Igbo Community, Anioma Redemption, Gideon Africa Team (GAT) and many other organizations under the umbrella of the Global Igbo Leaders (GIL) for collaborative actions for peace to return to our homesteads.




Identified as the chief pepertrators in this insecurity is the AUTOPILOT Arm of the Biafra Agitation group led by Simon Ekpa that lives in Finland. 


Simon Ekpa issues orders with threats to lives and properties in the Southeast and those who flaunted such orders were met with violent death and different degrees of harm and/or losses.


Against the wishes of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, this AUTOPILOT group continued to threaten the peace loving people of the South East with countless Sit@Home orders even when there was nothing significantly at stake in the Biafra struggle.


Against this background, the IGBO COMMUNITY IN FINLAND, found it a responsibility to engage Simon Ekpa to seek an end to this worrisome situation.




Even after their interventions, Simon Ekpa threatened further harm and violence to the people of the Southeast (Biafra land as he calls it) who disobey his orders in the coming weeks and also during the elections, because as he says, there will be no elections in Biafra land.


All entreaties to dissuade him from such dastardly path proved abortive and the IGBO COMMUNITY IN FINLAND had a meeting and issued a communique to the Press, explaining clearly that Simon Ekpa was already working against the Biafra Agitation he preaches as his cause but instead, working with suspected enemies of Ndiigbo to not only make Alaigbo unsafe for our people but also, in line with the wishes of his sponsors, create unsafe environment for elections to hold in the entire Southeast with a view to cut the home votes for Mr. Peter Obi who has become the new wave in political movement in Nigeria.


The suspicion that Simon Ekpa is in bed with the ruling party and other enemies of the Ndiigbo was further confirmed after the Press Release from the Igbo Community in Finland which was shared to all leading Press across Nigeria including THE PUNCH, THISDAY, GUARDIAN, VANGUARD, THE NATION, SAHARA REPORTER,  among others. While other Newspapers agreed to publish the Press Release, the Sun Newspapers declined. 


It became clear that the Sun Newspapers Online version after publishing the Press Release, removed the publication after about two hours of being online on the sun newspapers website. 


On realising this development, the leaders of NDIIGBO Community in Finland reached out to editors of The Sun NEWSPAPER and they were told that AN ORDER FROM ABOVE directed that the news item be taken down. This is the original link for the press release: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/the-igbo-community-in-finland-seeks-ekpas-arrest-over-disturbances-in-south-east/.  This is the link for a similar story published by sahara newspapers based on the press release from the Igbo Community in Finland: https://saharareporters.com/2023/01/03/igbo-community-finland-demands-probe-trial-simon-ekpa-over-killings-south-east-nigeria




It is therefore troubling to realise that The Sun NEWSPAPER which is the most circulated and widely read NEWSPAPER in the Southeast would decline to publish the likely solution to the persistent insecurity in the Southeast while other Newspapers carried the Press release.


We therefore state clearly here that the Chief Orji Uzo Kalu and the management of The Sun NEWSPAPER must urgently explain to Ndiigbo the reason behind such unpatriotic act especially in the quest for a lasting solution to the senseless killings and insecurity in our land.


We do not want to draw conclusions without the response of The Sun NEWSPAPER, as their actions on January 20, 2023 are quite bewildering and may be construed as being non-challant or unsympathetic regarding the killings in the southeast to say the least. .


We therefore alert the Igbo Nation of this development and call on all and sundry to stand with our people in finding lasting solutions to this bloodletting in our land.


by Global Igbo Leaders