Finnish Court Sentences Simon Ekpa To Six Years In Prison

Päijät-Häme District Court on Monday slammed a six-year prison term on Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed Biafra agitator.

Ekpa, who is based in Finland, was found guilty of terrorism-related charges.

The long-term Lahti resident and one-time councillor in the Finnish city faced a long list of charges, including participating in a terrorist organisation and publicly inciting crimes for terrorist purposes.

The court ruled that Ekpa had participated in a terrorist organisation and publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes.

The charges relate to Ekpa’s alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state in the Biafra region.

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.

Ekpa, a long-term resident of Lahti and one-time local councillor, committed the crimes from the Finnish city, the verdict added, which gives the Finnish court jurisdiction in the case.

Ekpa had denied all the charges in court. Born in the South-East, he moved to Finland in 2007 as an athlete.

The court on Monday also convicted him of aggravated tax fraud.

Though the district court’s verdict is not final, meaning it can be appealed to a higher court.