There have been deadly attacks lately in South-east Nigeria by gunmen said to be enforcing a controversial sit-at-home order.
Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lead counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has sued Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator, over the declaration of sit-at-home in Nigeria’s South-east.
Mr Ejiofor disclosed this in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Mr Ekpa, the leader of a pro-Biafra group, Autopilot IPOB, a faction of the IPOB, has been declaring sit-at-home orders since Mr Kanu was “intercepted” in Kenya in June, last year, by Nigerian security agents and brought back to Abuja.
On 7 December, Mr Ekpa also declared a five-day sit-at-home across Nigeria’s south-east to be observed from 9 to 14 December.
Tuesday, 13 December, was excluded.
Mr Ekpa, who made the declaration via his verified Twitter handle, claimed that the sit-at-home order was in response to some “proactive measures” being put in place by unnamed Biafra agitators to address the rising insecurity in the region, which according to him, was caused by the Nigerian government.
He warned residents of the region to stay indoors throughout the five days or have themselves to blame if they disobey the order.
Several Igbo leaders condemned the declaration and urged residents of the region to disregard it.
Mr Kanu, the IPOB leader, repeatedly disowned the declaration and asked residents of the region to ignore it.
Some residents have been attacked for stepping out of their homes during the ongoing five-day sit-at-home order by gunmen enforcing the order.
On Friday, gunmen attacked Imo communities, killing a police officer and Prince Iheme, an elder brother to Nollywood actor, Osita Iheme.
Again, on Saturday, some hoodlums attacked different locations in Enugu State, killing two persons in a local market in the state and razing a police vehicle.
Mr Ejiofor, the IPOB lead counsel, said the legal action against Mr Ekpa was in response to his “disturbing and false” declarations in the region.
“Today (Tuesday), we formally commenced a legal action before the FCT High Court against Simon Ekpa, which action is founded on a plethora of grave infractions arising from his violent, disturbing and false declarations,” he said, without giving details.
Mr Ejiofor said his decision not to release further details of the litigation was in order not to “prejudice the robust legal actions already lined up for him (Ekpa) and his cohorts”.
Mr Ekpa is a Nigerian-Finnish citizen.
He hails from Ngbo, a community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria. But he stays in Finland, a North European country.
He and four others are the defendants in the suit, according to a writ of summon dated 13 December posted on Facebook by Mr Ejiofor.
The four others are Juliet Anibueze, Obinna Victor Uzoaganaobi, Livingstone Chukwuemeka and Raphael Chiamaka Ajaere.
