No More Sit-At-Home”: Activist Leads Protest Against Simon Ekpa, Demands End To Violence In South-East

 

“No More Sit-At-Home”: Activist Leads Protest Against Simon Ekpa, Demands End To Violence In South-East

Okunowo, who identifies as the General-Tutor of Anti-Cult Lessons in Nigeria and National Leader of Anti-Cult Activities in Nigeria, told SaharaReporters that he mobilized Nigerians across ethnic lines to resist what he described as “criminal incitement” by Simon Ekpa, the self-styled Prime Minister of the so-called Biafra Republic Government in Exile.

ANigerian social activist, Akin Okunowo, popularly known as Aluta, has declared that the infamous sit-at-home order that has crippled the South-East must come to an end, warning that “Ndigbos must be allowed to breathe.”

Okunowo, who identifies as the General-Tutor of Anti-Cult Lessons in Nigeria and National Leader of Anti-Cult Activities in Nigeria, told SaharaReporters that he mobilized Nigerians across ethnic lines to resist what he described as “criminal incitement” by Simon Ekpa, the self-styled Prime Minister of the so-called Biafra Republic Government in Exile.

According to him, the protest campaign against Ekpa reached its peak in Abuja when demonstrators stormed the Finnish Embassy, demanding urgent action from Helsinki against the man accused of using his base in Finland to instigate killings in the South-East through his notorious sit-at-home directives.

“We refused to leave the embassy until something urgent was done by the Finnish government,” Okunowo said.

“On the second day, the Finnish authorities, through their ambassador, requested a black-and-white petition. After submitting it, we were told the matter had reached the attention of Helsinki and action would follow.”

Within days, the Finnish authorities reportedly invited Simon Ekpa for questioning in Finland, a development that went viral across social media platforms.

The move, according to Okunowo, rattled Ekpa and forced him to suspend his sit-at-home orders for several weeks.

But rather than retreat, Ekpa allegedly intensified his attacks on Okunowo, using his social media platforms to hurl insults and deflect blame for killings in the South-East onto Nigerian security forces.

“When people are attacked and killed in Igbo land for defying his sit-at-home order, he blames the Nigerian security agents. He blackmails Nigeria and blackmails the military, yet he is the one issuing the criminal directives. The evidence of his atrocities is all over the internet — just like Nnamdi Kanu’s. He cannot erase them,” Okunowo said in a video obtained by SaharaReporters on Monday.

He described Ekpa as a “jester of the decade,” insisting that the Finland-based agitator had reduced the Biafra cause to a scam, using the blood of ordinary Igbos as bargaining chips while making money from fear and chaos.

“He knew himself that what he was doing was wrong and criminal. He was scamming his people under the guise of fighting for freedom. Imagine how desperate some fellows can be — to kill their own people for money,” Okunowo added.

The activist also took aim at the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, whose prolonged detention in DSS custody has fuelled further radicalisation among separatist sympathisers.

Kanu, arrested and extradited to Nigeria in 2021, is still facing terrorism charges without conviction. Okunowo argued that Nigeria’s “dysfunctional legal system” has turned the trial into a circus, giving room for new agitators like Ekpa to exploit the vacuum.

“It was a well-planned crime. When Kanu was taken out, Ekpa took over. And when Ekpa goes down, another criminal will rise up to continue the scheme. This is the cycle we must break,” he said.

Okunowo accused both men of weaponising genuine Igbo grievances to line their pockets, while ordinary people suffer. “Do we need to allow some criminals to continue feasting on this Biafra thing when the concerns of the Ndigbo are left unaddressed?” he asked.

While blasting Ekpa and IPOB, Okunowo did not spare the Nigerian government, accusing it of being complicit through negligence, corruption, and incompetence.

“The Nigerian state has failed to address the root causes of agitation. The South-East is treated with suspicion, underdeveloped, and policed with brutality. Every time the military storms a community, they leave a trail of blood. This is how the agitators gain followers — by feeding off injustice and government failure,” he said.

He added that Nigeria’s judiciary has become part of the problem, unable to deliver swift justice in terrorism cases and too easily manipulated by political interests.

“If Nigeria had a strong judicial system, someone like Simon Ekpa wouldn’t even dare to imagine he could destabilize a whole region from Finland. It was the Finnish system that humbled him. They followed due process, investigated, and acted. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, cases drag on endlessly, creating martyrs out of criminals,” Okunowo noted.

Okunowo said the lesson from the Ekpa episode is clear: Nigeria must strengthen its judicial system, build better international cooperation, and engage directly with communities in the South-East to address the socio-economic marginalisation that fuels agitation.

“We cannot shoot our way out of this crisis. We must give Ndigbos a reason not to feel excluded or oppressed. Otherwise, every time one fake messiah is removed, another one will rise,” he warned.

He also called on the international community to stop providing safe havens for agitators who instigate violence from abroad, stressing that foreign governments must hold such individuals accountable.

“Finland’s action showed the world that nobody should be allowed to sponsor terror from the comfort of a foreign country. Nigeria must build on that model and insist on international accountability,” he said.

Okunowo concluded his remarks with a rallying cry to Nigerians, particularly the South-East, to resist intimidation and reclaim their normal lives.

“No more sit-at-home. Let the Ndigbos breathe. Let traders open their shops. Let children go to school. Let life return to the South-East,” he declared.