Simon Ekpa, a leader of Nigeria’s Biafra’s secessionist group, Indigenous People of Biafra Government, IPOB in Exile, was on Monday sentenced to six months imprisonment for terrorism and tax fraud by a court in Finland.
Ekpa was arrested in Finland on 21 November 2024 by by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for allegedly inciting terrorism and promoting violence through social media.
The arrest followed complaints by the Nigerian authority that activities of Ekpa in Finland have led to killings of security personnel, others as well as destruction of properties in South East Nigeria, Finnish yle.fi reported.
Ekpa one-time councilor in Finland was sentenced by Päijät-Häme District Court after he was found guilty of terrorism-related charges.
The court said it has jurisdiction in the case since Ekpa committed the alleged crimes in Finland.
Simon Ekpa denied all the charges in court.
The Court ruled that Ekpa, who moved to Finland in 2007 as an athlete participated in a terrorist organisation and had publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes.
According to the court, Ekpa used his significant social media following to stoke tensions in the Biafra region between August 2021 and November 2024.
The court also noted that Simon Ekpa was an influential member of a Biafran separatist movement, which established armed groups aimed at bringing about Biafran independence by force.
The district court’s ruling further noted that Ekpa had supplied these groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his network of contacts in the region, and he was also found to have encouraged his followers on social media platform X to commit crimes in Nigeria.
The court also convicted him of aggravated tax fraud.
However, Ekpa can appeal the district court’s verdict to a higher court.