Finnish prosecutors has charged a leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, for inciting terrorism online to listeners globally especially Nigeria.
It said that Ekpa has been charged before court for inciting the public to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.
The government disclosed this on Friday while giving update on the Nigerian separatist leader who had been in detention since his arrest in the country where he had been hiding for many years.
Finland’s National Prosecution Authority added in a statement that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.
The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.
Ekpa — who claims to lead the Biafra Republic’s government in exile — was detained in November for proper prosecution in accordance with the country’s law.
Ekpa is known as a self-proclaimed leader of a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which is pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast, where a bloody civil war was fought in the late 1960s.
The dual Finnish-Nigerian national has also been a local representative for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party in the city of Lahti, north of Helsinki, where he has served on a public transport committee.
When Ekpa was arrested, Finnish authorities also requested that four other people be remanded in custody on suspicion of financing Ekpa’s activities.
On Friday, the prosecution authority said the prosecutor had decided to drop charges against four others in the case due to a lack of evidence.
Ekpa has been the subject of several of AFP’s fact checks in recent years over false claims and disinformation he has made in independence campaigning.
