The Senate on Wednesday condemned the Monday sit-at-home in the South East geopolitical zone and asked the Federal Government to collaborate with the Finnish Government and extradite a pro-Biafran agitator, Simon Ekpa, for prosecution.
The upper chamber also resolved to invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs (when appointed) and relevant stakeholders to carry out thorough investigation as well as bring other sponsors of the act to book.
The illegal sit-at-home order is said to be enforced by a faction of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in five South-East states — Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi.
IPOB first imposed sit-at-home on September 9, 2021 to protest the incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the federal government after he was intercepted on Sunday June 27, 2021in Kenya. It later added the lockdowns to any day their leader appears in court.
With Kanu in detention, Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen and Councilor of Lahti City, was appointed IPOB spokesman and he started enforcing the lockdowns through his terrorist, Autopilot wing of IPOB.
Ekpa, armed with Finnish military training and service and as self-acclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE) organization, has been directing agitation for Biafran independence, with uncontrolled bloodshed.
Cumulatively, according to a newspaper report, the region has lost 144 sit-at-home days from January till July, 2023 with at least 31 days in Ebonyi State, 48 in Anambra, 28 in Imo and 37 in Abia State. Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, said within the last two years, the zone lost about N4 trillion to the sit-at-home.
The Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, in July 2023, said the sit-at-home is making his state lose over N10 billion every Monday.
