Finnish court jails Simon Ekpa for six years on terrorism charges

The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland has sentenced Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish separatist agitator, to six years in prison on terrorism and tax fraud charges, Finnish media Yle News reports.

According to the court, between 2021 and 2024, Ekpa used his social media platforms to incite violence in Nigeria’s southeast region.

It also stated that he supplied armed groups with weapons, and encouraged crimes through his online influence.

The charges were tied to his role in a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist movement declared a terrorist organisation in 2017 by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ekpa, a resident of Lahti and former local councillor, denied all allegations but was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist group and of aggravated tax fraud.

Prosecutors maintained that his online activities, directed from Finland, qualified as terrorism under Finnish law.

State prosecutor Sampsa Hakala said, “We have a great deal of evidence regarding this individual’s online activity and communications.”

Ekpa, who relocated to Finland in 2007, was arrested in November 2024. The ruling is not final and may be appealed.