Andy Ezeani
The conviction of the separatist agitator Simon Ekpa by a Finnish court on September 1, 2025, received commendation and applause in official quarters in Nigeria.
To government officials, bringing Ekpa to justice was a big relief. It was also a testimony to how long the hand of the law can truly be. Sooner or later, that long hand catches up with a wrong doer.
That triumph of the long hand of the law, abroad, was the basis of the celebration of the judgment in Finland by the Nigerian government.
Among the various state functionaries who were falling over themselves to carol the conviction of Ekpa were military and security leaders. Some of them even issued statements congratulating themselves. Don’t ask what how and what for?
If the Finnish court had given notice of the date it scheduled to give judgment on Ekpa, you can be sure Nigeria would have sent a high-powered delegation.
Somehow, notably, the Nigerian Police did not locate a fitting basis to latch on the Ekpa judgment to issue a statement on the heroics of its crack team, how they deployed kinetic and non-kinetic means to apprehend Ekpa before handing him over to the authorities in Finland.
One traditional ruler in Edo state was seething with anger not too longer ago, after he paid his way out of the clutches of kidnappers, only to get home to find that the Police had issued a detailed statement on the good job done by its crack team in extricating the man from the kidnappers’ jaws. This is by the way.
Ekpa, a Finnish citizen of Nigerian birth, was arrested last February and charged with sponsoring violence in Nigeria, in particular in the South East of his birth. The Nigerian government had earlier lodged a complaint to the government of Finland about his disruptive activities in the country.
The Finnish government obviously took its time to investigate the complaints and weigh the evidence provided by Nigeria before it formally charged the former Lahti city councilor.
The conviction of the controversial agitator, handed down by a panel of three judges at the end of his trial, was, to Nigerian government officials, a confirmation that justice is alive and well. In Finland.
The indicting reality that the efficient long hand of the law is alien to their society must have been lost to some people. In the Nigerian system, especially in recent times, the long hand of the law has become deformed. It is either dangling awkwardly too long to be useful, or it is too short to be of any value.
It took six months for the Finnish court to complete the Ekpa trial, in spite of the fact that the offenses he was charged with were not committed in Finland. The evidence against him was not obtained first hand. But what do you find in Nigeria?
Over the years, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), where Ekpa started his agitation career, had distanced itself from his activities. The IPOB leadership never stopped flinching at the violent approach that Ekpa adopted. The more IPOB distanced itself from violence, however, the more the Nigerian state, with its own agenda under Muhammadu Buhari, insisted that IPOB was a violent organization.
Having proceeded to proscribe IPOB as a terrorist organization, perhaps, one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the Buhari presidency, everything had to be done to pin violence on the otherwise peaceful separatist agitation group. It was only a matter of time before all manner of criminals adopted IPOB as cover. Was the government happy? All these are, however, not even the point here.
The irony in the Nigerian government commending Finland for a speedy trial of Ekpa must either count as an act of shamelessness or worse, a sign of an uncommon obuseness. Has the Nigerian state become so inured to injustice and impunity, that it can no longer feel any qualms about doing wrong? How can Nigeria be commending Finland for trying Ekpa in six months, but feels no compunction about incarcerating Nnamdi Kanu for years, pretending to be trying him. Trying him for exactly what?
The biggest charge against Kanu is that he is a demagogue. He talks. He even prophesies. He rails against injustice and never shrinks from calling out Nigeria for injustice against his Igbo people. In all this, he remains consistent in condemning any acts that brings violence against his people. Instructively, he never took violence to any other people.
Not everybody subscribes to Kanu’s philosophies, but for the state to decide to incarcerate him for speaking up, is in itself a crime against humanity. It remains a sad commentary on the shameless hug with abuse and inequity by the Nigerian state that the government and its security apparatus find triumph of any worth in holding a citizen captive for years without any weighty charge except ‘he said this, he said that’. The Department of State Security that has been keeping him appears to even take the matter personal now, communicating an awful disposition of bellicosity not backed by any good reason.
The judiciary has, of course, submitted itself as an accomplish in the wrongs done by the executive. The judiciary is no longer a place for a hounded citizen to run to for protection. They seem to wait with daggers.
Only yesterday, in attending to Kanu’s application to be transferred to the National Hospital from the DSS, for better medical attention, Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court Abuja did what the judiciary is now known for. It resorted to playing games. It returned Kanu’s application to the Chief Judge of the FCT for reassignment. Why? Because the annual vacation of the courts had ended, so he could not attend to the matter. Very convenient.
Last week, in a different context, but no less relevant, former vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo quoted the indicting words of a British judge who once alluded to the fact that any serious matter left for the courts in Nigeria to resolve are virtually condemned to an uncertain end.
The world is increasingly tightening the noose on Nigeria because its government is increasingly acting lawless at home. Nnamdi Kanu’s case may seem like a show of power by some, but it is not. Very soon, it will not only be the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that some judge in the Americas will tag as terrorist organisations. Nigeria as a state should watch it.
