Finnish court jails Nigerian-born activist Simon Ekpa for six years
The ruling was delivered by the Päijät-Häme District Court in southern Finland, which concluded unanimously that Ekpa sought to advance the Biafra cause through unlawful means.
A Finnish court has sentenced Nigerian-born activist Simon Ekpa to six years in prison after finding him guilty of terrorism-related charges linked to a separatist campaign for an independent Biafra state in south-eastern Nigeria.
The ruling was delivered by the Päijät-Häme District Court in southern Finland, which concluded unanimously that Ekpa sought to advance the Biafra cause through unlawful means.
According to court findings, the 39-year-old, who holds Finnish citizenship, supplied armed groups in Nigeria with weapons and explosives and used his social media platforms to incite violence.
The documents also revealed that between August 2021 and November 2024, Ekpa engaged in aggravated tax fraud.
Ekpa, who once served as a local councillor in the Finnish city of Lahti, was arrested in February 2023 at his home. He denied all charges, and his legal team has not confirmed whether an appeal will be filed.
Ekpa rose to prominence as a leading figure in the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a banned secessionist group led by Nnamdi Kanu, who is also facing terrorism charges in Nigeria.
Founded in 2012 as a peaceful movement, Ipob established an armed wing in 2020, claiming to defend the Igbo ethnic community. Nigerian authorities, however, accuse the group of violent attacks that have destabilised parts of the south-east.
In 2022, a BBC investigation described Ekpa as one of Ipob’s “media warriors,” alleging that he used digital platforms to encourage unrest. Nigerian officials have repeatedly called for his extradition, accusing him of fuelling separatist violence from abroad.
In March 2023, the Nigerian army listed him among 96 suspects wanted for terrorism and violent extremism.
The conviction comes against a backdrop of unresolved tensions over Biafra’s independence.
The first attempt to break away in the late 1960s, led by military officer Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, sparked a three-year civil war in which more than one million people died, mostly from famine and disease.
