A Finnish court has sentenced Simon Ekpa to six years in prison for inciting terrorism and promoting Biafra separatist violence online.
The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland has sentenced Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish pro-Biafra agitator, to six years in prison for inciting terrorism in Nigeria. Prosecutors said Ekpa, who styles himself as “Prime Minister” of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, used online platforms between 2021 and 2024 to incite violence and promote separatist activities. “We have a great deal of evidence regarding this individual’s online activity and communications,” said state prosecutor Sampsa Hakala.
Ekpa was also accused of aggravated tax fraud and violations of the Lawyers Act. Finnish police investigated him in collaboration with Nigerian authorities, arresting him in November 2024. His lawyer, Kaarle Gummerus, questioned the credibility of evidence supplied from Nigeria.
The case linked him to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), outlawed as a terrorist group by Nigeria in 2017. IPOB’s secessionist push in the southeast recalls the Biafra civil war that killed over a million people between 1967 and 1970.