By Our correspondent
The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland has sentenced Nigerian-born politician and separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa, to six years in prison for terrorism-related offences and other crimes.
According to the ruling delivered on Monday, September 1, the 40-year-old former Lahti municipal councillor was found guilty of participating in the activities of a terrorist organisation, inciting the public to commit crimes for terrorist purposes, engaging in aggravated tax fraud, and violating the provisions of the Lawyers Act.
The court ordered that Ekpa remain in custody.
Between August 2021 and November 2024, Ekpa was said to have sought to promote the independence of the so-called Biafra region in southeastern Nigeria through illegal means.
“He used social media to gain a politically influential position and exploited the crisis within a key separatist movement in Nigeria to assume a significant role in it,” the court documents stated.
The court also held that Ekpa played a central role in organising the separatist movement, transforming it into an increasingly structured entity. Armed groups were allegedly established under the movement, which the judges classified as terrorist organisations.
“Ekpa equipped these groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his network of contacts. He was also considered to have encouraged and incited his followers on X (formerly Twitter) to commit crimes in Nigeria,” the judgment added.
Ekpa denied all the charges throughout the trial.
The hearings were conducted between May 30 and June 25, 2025, across 12 sittings. A panel of three judges presided over the case and unanimously reached the verdict.
Background
Ekpa was arrested by Finnish authorities in December 2024 on suspicion of terrorist activities. He was later remanded by the Päijät-Häme District Court on probable cause after being accused of inciting people to commit crimes with terrorist intent and spreading separatist propaganda via social media.
The offences for which he has now been convicted occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 2024 in Lahti, Finland.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation had also sought the arrest of four other men on similar charges, but those cases were dropped due to lack of evidence.
