Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah has demanded the repatriation of a Finland-based businessman, Simon Ekpa, for his role in the deadly sit-at-home protest in the South-East.

He said this while receiving members of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence.

Mbah said Ekpa was feeding on the emotions and suffering of the Igbo and pleaded with people in the southeast to ignore his threats and orders to stay home.

The governor told members of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, who were on a supervisory visit to the state, where they also inspected the construction of the Ministry of State Services’ training institute in Awgu: “As you may have also noticed recently, they have continued to make attempts, especially that megalomaniac, who ironically lives peacefully with his family in Finland, a country where the rule of law prevails, but he is encouraging the reign of anarchy here and inciting some of our youth to their self-destruction.

“For him this is also a business, he pretends to fight for the interests of the Igbo, but he knows nothing about the Igbo and does not have their interests at heart.

“He creates a kind of siege atmosphere and lives off it to make a living. He continues to extort and exploit our people, who may not be aware of it. He tells them that he is fighting for their interests.

“He’s just a common criminal.

“I would therefore like to take this opportunity to call on our people to ignore this threat.

“We have shown that we can ensure the safety of our people and we will continue to do so with the help of our security services.

“We will not be intimidated.

“We cannot submit to the siege atmosphere he wants to create in the southeast.

“We cherish our hard work as a people.

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“So you can’t love a people and everything you do is at the expense of their existence, just to get more followers and cheap publicity.

“It is astonishing that the Finnish government allows this man to reside peacefully in their country and then commits terrorism in Nigeria.

“And I think this is something that your committee needs to look into and see how this man can be repatriated and then brought to justice.”

The Chairman of the Commission, Mr Ahmed Satomi, described Governor Mbah as a worthy example to other states in the areas of security and good governance.

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