The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland, on Monday, sentenced controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, to six years in prison after finding him guilty of terrorism-related charges.
The court ruled that Mr Ekpa had participated in a terrorist organisation and had publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes, Yle, a Finnish newspaper, reported on Monday.
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Delivering judgment, the court held that Mr Ekpa had used his significant social media following to stoke tensions in the “Biafra region” between August 2021 and November 2024.
Biafra is a name often used by Mr Ekpa and other separatist groups in Nigeria to refer to Nigeria’s South-east and some parts of the country’s South-south.
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The Finnish court also ruled that Mr Ekpa was an influential member of a Biafran separatist movement, which established armed groups aimed at bringing about Biafran independence by force.
It further held that Mr 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 his X handle to commit crimes in Nigeria.
The court also ruled that Mr Ekpa committed the offences from Lahti, a city in Finland where he stays, and argued that the implication was that the court had jurisdiction in the case.
Tax fraud conviction
Apart from terrorism, the Finnish court also convicted Mr Ekpa of “aggravated tax fraud,” the newspaper reported.
The district court’s verdict is not final because the ruling can be appealed at a higher court.
Arrest and prosecution
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Ekpa, 40, was arrested alongside four others on 21 November 2024 on suspicion of terrorist activities.
The Finnish police had said that Mr Ekpa “contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”
The District Court of Päijät-Häme later ordered that the pro-Biafra agitator be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”
A Nigerian-Finnish citizen, Mr Ekpa heads Autopilot, a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
The separatist group has been linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions, although it has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.
Hours after the arrest, the IPOB faction loyal to Nnamdi Kanu, disowned Mr Ekpa, explaining that the pro-Biafra agitator was never its member.
Mr Ekpa was initially indicted for financing terrorism alongside the four other suspects.
The police suspected that the Biafra agitator committed the crime of collecting money in violation of the Finnish Money Collection Act.
The Finnish police said he allegedly committed the crimes between 23 August 2021 and 18 November 2024 in Lahti, a town in Finland.
However, the four other suspects were later released during preliminary investigation.
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PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the district court had set May 2025 as the deadline for prosecutors to present possible charges against Mr Ekpa.
Mr Ekpa was charged in mid-May with public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent and participation in a terrorist group.
The prosecutor had said the charges were linked to Mr Ekpa’s secessionist activities in “Biafra land.”
In his first appearance in court on 30 May, the Biafra agitator denied terrorism charges against him.
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