The most obvious conclusion to draw from the arrest of Simon Ekpa, as announced in the media, is that the strategy IPOB adopted for actualization of Biafra cannot work. That is the reason certain Igbos, such as myself, have not supported IPOB. Biafra can not be achieved militarily.
The only option is to pursue it diplomatically. The diplomatic approach can not work with the IPOB method, which is based almost exclusively on propaganda and incendiary and provocative rhetoric, including incitement to violence.
Every European country will eventually stop the use of the IPOB method within its territory. What happened with the arrest of Ekpa is that his method violated the laws of Finland. He was arrested for incitement to violence tending toward terrorism. Every European country has a law against incitement to violence and hate speech.
The message and communications style of IPOB will amount to incitement and hate speech under the laws of almost every European country. Unknown to most Nigerians was the fact that Nnamdi Kanu relocate from UK to Kenya to evade an invitation by the British law enforcement agency. They had invited him and Uche Mefor (his deputy) for questioning on suspicion of incitement to violence and hate speech.
Mefor answered the invitation and denied any involvement, while Nnamdi Kanu avoided the invitation by moving to Kenya. The British were happy that Kanu moved to Kenya because it gave them a better opportunity to kill without shedding blood.
It was British intelligence that alerted the Nigerian government that Nnamdi Kanu was in Kenya. The British agreed to assist Nigeria in catching Nnamdi Kanu on the condition that Nigeria would agree to try Nnamdi Kanu in Nigerian courts instead of assassinating him. That was why Nigeria did not kill Nnamdi Kanu during his capture in Kenya despite having excellent opportunities to do so. They had promised their British and Kenyan allies that they would not kill him in Kenya. It was also the British that ensured the cooperation of their Kenyan allies to make the capture and removal of Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya an easy job.
So, there is no country in the world right now that would allow any IPOB leader to stay in its territory and use the same method of incitement to violence as a way of pursuing the Biafran objective. Britain was going to stop Nnamdi Kanu. Now, Finland is doing something we had expected it to do several months ago.
It really means that those who want Biafra must consider a different method other than what IPOB leaders have tried in the past. The diplomatic method is the way to go.
