A Finnish court has sentenced Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-born Finnish citizen and prominent secessionist activist, to six years in prison after finding him guilty of terrorism-related offences.
According to documents seen by BBC News Pidgin, the Päijät-Häme District Court ruled that Ekpa sought to promote the independence of south-eastern Nigeria’s self-proclaimed Biafra Republic through illegal means. The court also found that he supplied armed groups with weapons and explosives through his network of contacts.
Ekpa, a former councillor in Lahti, Finland, denied all charges. However, the panel of three judges delivered a unanimous guilty verdict. He was also convicted of aggravated tax fraud. It remains unclear whether he will appeal.
The court determined that between August 2021 and November 2024, Ekpa engaged in unlawful activities and used social media to incite the public to commit crimes in Nigeria. He was arrested at his home in Finland in February 2023.
In 2022, a BBC investigation identified him as one of the “media warriors” of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), accused of using online platforms to promote violence. IPOB, which was founded in 2012 as a peaceful movement, has since established an armed wing. It is banned in Nigeria, where its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is facing terrorism charges, which he denies.
The Nigerian government had previously called for Ekpa’s extradition, with the army naming him among 97 individuals wanted for terrorism, violent extremism, and secessionist threats.
IPOB is seeking to carve out an independent homeland, Biafra, from Nigeria’s south-east and parts of the Niger Delta. The secessionist push harks back to the late 1960s, when then-Igbo leader Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war that claimed over one million lives through conflict, hunger, and disease.
