This is a tale of two Simons. They lived over 2,000 years apart. Separated by a distance of about 3,642 kilometres. They shared no ancestry. Neither language nor cultural affinity. At birth, they were goodly to behold. Meek, cute babies. One kept his garment of goodly character, overcame the lure of lucre and overawed the lust for power. The other moulted his skin of raw godly character and turned a baddie. A real renegade who masterminded a harvest of deaths in his home country.
They were both named Simon at birth. Simon in Greek language means ‘flat-nosed.’ It has a deeper meaning in Hebrew. Here, it means ‘hearing’ or ‘he has heard.’ But whether Hebrew or Greek, Simon is a good name.
One of the Simons was Jewish, a disciple of Jesus. A former peasant fisherman who became a fisher of men. He was later named Peter (The Rock) by Jesus, an emblem of his covenant with divinity and his leadership role in the assembly of disciples. A passionate preacher of the gospel of Christ and worker of miracles. Through him, creative, healing and deliverance miracles were wrought in his time. He also experienced the miraculous while in chains in prison. Let’s call him Simon Peter as Jesus did. He was said to have been martyred between 65-68 AD, about 33-34 years after the death of Jesus Christ.
Well over 2,000 years after the death of Simon Peter, another Simon was born in Ohaukwu, Ebonyi state in south eastern Nigeria to Ekpa family. Born a flat-nosed baby with chubby cheeks. No comet heralded his birth. He grew up strong, determined to make his own mark. He did make his own mark, a distinguished sportsman. He even won the Triple Jump silver medal for Nigeria at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships in Cameroon. Expectation rose for the Ohaukwu son. He would dare more heights, world athletics events, the Olympics. But fate is a mysterious mistress. A knee injury ensured he didn’t advance in the ranks of continental and global athletics.
Unhappy with Nigeria
Unlike Simon Peter of the Bible, a Galilean, who loved his nation and his people, Simon Ekpa felt disillusioned about his home country. Many were and still are. Some left Nigeria by whatever means to other nations where they either flourished or were further frustrated. Simon Ekpa was among the Exodus. He was so miffed that he even returned the silver medal after renouncing his Nigerian citizenship. He broke no law here. Anybody can renounce his citizenship. But that’s where the good side of his story ends.
In Finland where he found a new home and a new nationality, he morphed into a monster against Nigeria, the same country he told the world he was no longer its citizen. Now Finnish, it was obvious he had not finished his mission against the country of his birth. Still bitter, he launched into a fatal fantasy, weaving waves of separatist activities and sowing the same seed of bitterness in the minds of a legion of misguided men and women. He encouraged arson, killing and raw plunder of his own people, the south east.
Simon Ekpa has a right to be angry at Nigeria. Many Nigerians are. The old eastern region which spreads from parts of the current Delta state to Rivers, Cross River and others were the theatre of the needless, ill-thought Nigeria-Biafra civil war. The people of Asaba, capital of Delta state, were mowed in the most heinously contrived and devilishly orchestrated pogrom on the bank of River Nigeria. Men and women were conned by Nigeria troops into coming out en masse for a peace talk. In the spirit of Anioma tradition, they turned out in their best and most treasured traditional regalia, the Akwa Ocha (a delicately hand loom-woven white cloth made from wool). They ornamented themselves with beads over a splash of white powder. They assembled in the public arena. Hearts beating with joy that the war that has cut short the lives of their kinsmen and women was about to come to an end. That never happened. There was no peace talk. Instead, the Nigeria troops separated the men from the women and opened fire on the men. The killed and killed until they were satisfied with the flow of blood on the Niger. Asaba was inconsolable. The Anioma nation was thrown into mourning. But the Anioma people never were compensated. Many decades after the war, they never riled against their killers. It was the same attitude among many in the south east. They have moved forward, scattered all over the nation and among nations of the world, proving themselves as worthy entrepreneurs, innovators, professionals and sports men and women. The Igbo nation was oppressed and plundered during the war, but the Igbo spirit was never repressed. It’s an indomitable spirit, a doughty spunk of character.
Reborn in Finland
This is the spirit Simon Ekpa lost when he got to Finland. He acquired a fearful spirit, took a cowardly path, hailing stones of death from afar, from the comfort of his new-found nationality. Monday sit-at-home, kill the haters of Biafra and other war chants only hurt his own people. Because of Ekpa and his recruits, illustrious Igbo sons and daughters blossoming in other lands, could no longer visit home. Afraid of death. Terrified of the shadow of Unknown Gunmen. Add that to the cost of zero socio-economic activities every Monday in the south east. Huge loss! All courtesy of Simon Ekpa of Ohaukwu.
The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland sentenced Simon Ekpa to only six years. That’s slap on the wrist. He deserved more. For someone found guilty of terrorism, aggravated tax fraud, and breach of Finland’s Lawyers Act (offering legal services without licence); he ought to be counting more years in the gulag.
But here’s a lesson for Nigeria. Simon Ekpa’s conviction happened within nine months after he was arrested in November 2024. Swift judicial system. This is over four years since Nnamdi Kanu was arrested and bundled back from Kenya to Nigeria on June 27, 2021 and Nigeria is still dragging over his case. That’s what you get in corrupt and lethargic judicial and security systems. It’s the difference between Simon of Galilee who preached the gospel of peace, healed the sick and was full of good deeds and Simon of Ohaukwu, who preached violence, spewed hate and vicariously decreed death upon his people. Sometimes in life, it’s not in the name, but in the heart.
