Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafran Republic Government in Exile, has been sentence to six years in prison for terrorism offences by the Paijat-Hame district court in Finland.
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Fiinnish news organisation, Yle, reported that the court ruled on Monday that Ekpa had participated in a terrorist organisation and had publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes.
Investogist reported in November 2024, that Simon Ekpa, a Finnish-Nigeria separatist agitator was arrested in Finland over terrorist related activities.
He faced charges relation to his alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state in the Biafra region of southeastern Nigeria, which was briefly independent in the late 1960s.
In its verdict, the court said that Ekpa had used his significant social media following to stoke tensions in the Biafra region between August 2021 and November 2024.
It added that Ekpa was an influential member of a Biafran separatist movement, which established armed groups aimed at bringing about Biafran independence by force.
The district court’s ruling further noted that 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 social media platform X to commit crimes in Nigeria.
He was also convicted of aggravate tax fraud.
Simon Ekpa, who was born in Nigeria, moved to Finland in 2007, as an athlete.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
