The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland on Monday, September 1, sentenced Simon Ekpa, a 40-year-old Nigerian-born Finnish citizen, to six years in prison for terrorism-related offences and other crimes.
According to court documents signed by district secretary Ulla Ristola and cited by BBC News Pidgin, Ekpa, a former Lahti municipal politician, was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation, inciting the public to commit crimes for terrorist purposes, aggravated tax fraud, and violations of Finland’s Lawyers Act.
The court ordered Ekpa to remain in custody.
On the terrorism charges, the court held that between August 2021 and November 2024, he sought to promote the independence of the so-called Biafra region in south-eastern Nigeria through illegal means.
“Using social media, he secured a politically influential position and exploited divisions within a key separatist movement in Nigeria to assume a significant role in it,” the judgment stated.
Ekpa, a prominent pro-Biafra activist, had long been accused of making inflammatory broadcasts from Finland that allegedly fueled violence in Nigeria’s South-East.
