A human rights lawyer and counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has urged security agencies to sustain their ongoing crackdown on criminal agitators in Imo State and across the South-East.
Ejiofor said the fight was not merely against armed criminals but a battle for the survival of the region.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the lawyer urged security operatives to remain resolute and focused, while clearly distinguishing IPOB’s peaceful global movement from what he called “criminal agitators and merchants of death.”
He described the recent arrest of a notorious commander, Ifeanyi Eze Okorienta, popularly known as Gentle de Yahoo, by the Nigerian Army in Imo State, as cheering news that should be welcomed and consolidated.
“What still hangs heavily on the lips of every concerned Igbo man,” Ejiofor said, “is the endless wait for confirmation that the leader of these monsters, the merchants of death who desecrated the South-East, is truly no more.”
The lawyer noted, however, that even if such confirmation comes, many people might not openly rejoice because fear still dominates daily life in the region.
“The fear is real, the silence is palpable, and the sword of terror continues to dangle menacingly over our land,” he said.
Ejiofor argued that this boldness is what Ala-Igbo needs to break away from silence born not of ignorance, but of fear of reprisals, betrayal, or political complicity.
He also accused political interests of aiding the rise of criminal gangs linked to Finland-based Simon Ekpa. According to him, the bloody activities of Ekpa’s followers appear to have been “procured, wittingly or unwittingly, by political contrivance,” with the aim of smearing IPOB’s global image.
He lamented that whenever Ekpa’s fighters are arrested, they quickly claim to be IPOB members, even though IPOB leadership repeatedly issues statements distancing itself from them.
Ejiofor said this has created a poisonous narrative where IPOB is blamed for every violent incident in the East, often without evidence or investigation.
“From the beginning, I have consistently called them what they are criminals, not agitators; killers, not freedom fighters,” Ejiofor stressed, adding that while IPOB’s appeal against its proscription is still pending before the Supreme Court, political actors continue to weaponise the group’s name.
