Simon Ekpa will soon be repatriated for supporting Kanu, witness tells court

A prosecution witness, identified as PW-AAA, on Friday, said Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based pro-Biafra agitator, would soon be brought to Nigeria to face trial for supporting Nnamdi Kanu in the agitation for Republic of Biafra.

PW-AAA was one of the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) that arrested Mr Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in 2015 at a Lagos hotel.

He appeared as the first prosecution witness before trial judge James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja in the ongoing trial of Mr Kanu, who faces charges of terrorism and treasonable felony over his separatist campaign for the secession of the five south-eastern states and parts of some neighbouring states from Nigeria as a sovereign Biafra republic.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the prosecution opened its case against Mr Kanu with PW-AAA testifying on Tuesday. The trial phase of the case kicked off on Tuesday after nearly 10 years of delay.

The witness, whose real name was concealed in line with the judge’s earlier ruling granting prosecution’s witnesses protection, disclosed the plan to extradite Mr Ekpa while being cross-examined by Mr Kanu’s counsel, Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Mr Ekpa heads Autopilot, a faction of the IPOB.

The Finnish Central Criminal Police arrested Mr Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator, on 21 November 2024.

Forty-year-old Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, was arrested alongside four others on suspicion of terrorist activities.

The separatist group has been blamed for some deadly attacks in the two regions, although it has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.

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Although Nnamdi Kanu founded IPOB in 2012, the separatist group now has various factions.

The Finnish police said Mr Ekpa “has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”

The District Court of Päijät-Häme later ordered that the agitator be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”

Meanwhile, hours after the arrest, the IPOB faction loyal to Mr Kanu disowned Mr Ekpa, explaining that the Biafra agitator was never its member.

Earlier, the federal government also tendered more items recovered from Mr Kanu. The court admitted them as exhibits.

These include one black laptop, two multi mix transmitters, one mini white Apple iPad with a pouch, one grey Apple iPad with a pouch, one grey MacBook with a pouch, one grey MacBook with case, one mini drone sound wave speaker, and two mini white speakers.

Others are one large computer mouse, one white adaptor, one laptop adaptor and one carton bag with laptop, two 3G modems, two Glo modems, one Glo Hawaii modem, one MTN modem, one Etisalat modem, one flash drive and one camcorder.

They also included one hand recorder in a black pouch, one MacBook Pro adapter, one Mic stand, one Phillips headphone, one radio sharp mic with cord, one pro sound mic with cord and one 4G LTE modem.

Others are a bunch of cards, one power adapter for mixer, one Easy Blaze white modem, one Samsung phone,1 black Motorola phone and one Nokia phone.

Also found on him are “one black Samsung phone, one black phone, 1 D-Link black modem, one 8GB flash drive, one extension wire adaptor, one pair of shoes, one belt, one pair of ciderwood sneakers and one footwear.

“One black Softech wristwatch, two singlets, one sealed Hermes perfume, one Trinket, one Pokham perfume, one Fredrick Peckham wristwatch, one Diesel wristwatch, one Alexander Christy collection wristwatch, one Club wristwatch.

“Others are a bank MasterCards, copies of documents, one copy of IPOB complementary card, documents tagged IPOB, one white clipper, one bottle of medicine, one Oman perfume, one Mini scented oils, one empty black purse.

“Others are one Nigerian passport bearing the names Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya Nnamdi Ngozichukwu and one British passport bearing the name Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya, one black purse, one passport holder, one card holder, one box of Rocarden wristwatch and four bundles of cords.”

Under cross-examination, PW-AAA further said no weapon was recovered from the IPOB leader during his arrest in Lagos.

He also said that no arms were recovered from the lady arrested along with Mr Kanu.

He said though the recovered items might not be ordinarily offensive, the intention of the defendant might be otherwise.

PW-AAA also told the court that he did not analyse any of the items recovered because his mandate was to effect arrest and obtain a statement from Mr Kanu.

The judge, Mr Omotosho fixed 6, 7 and 8 May 8 for continuation of cross examination.

(NAN)