Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Saturday declared wanted, a Finland-based Simon Ekpa, a leader of South East secessionist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
IPOB is a separatist group in South East agitating to restore the defunct Republic of Biafra, a section which seceded from Nigeria that led to a three year civil war in 1967.
IPOB, a breakaway from MASSOB in 2014 is led by Nnamdi Kanu, who was extradited from UK and currently in detention facing charges of treason.
He also founded, the dreaded militant wing of IPOB, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), an organisation that had be violent and targeting security operatives and forcing citizens to comply with their orders.
Simon Ekpa, based in Finland, became more visible in proscribed IPOB/ESN since the arrest and prosecution of Kanu and had been issuing directives on attacks in Nigeria.
The Nigerian military also declared 96 others wanted for terrorism, including 21 violent criminals also in the South east zone.
Director of Defence, Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, displayed the names and photographs of the wanted persons in a poster he released on Saturday in Abuja.
The poster showed names and photographs of the wanted persons in various geopolitical zones and they were designated either as terrorists, kidnappers or persons behind violent crimes.
No bounty was placed on the 97 persons declared wanted.
In 2022, the military declared 19 bandits wanted in the Northwest and placed a N5 million bounty on their heads.
It is not clear whether those declared wanted in 2022 have been captured or killed but names like Bello Turji and Halilu Babubu still featured on the list released on Saturday.
The DHQ declared 43 persons wanted in the Northwest in connection with banditry, kidnapping and terrorism.
It declared 33 Boko Haram and Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists wanted in the Northeast.
The DHQ urged members of the public to report information about the wanted person via phone numbers.
