A Finnish court has convicted Simon Ekpa, the leader of a Nigerian separatist group, to six years in prison for terrorism, tax fraud, and breaking the law.
Ekpa is the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) group, which is said to have killed and kidnapped hundreds of people in Nigeria’s southeastern region. He lives in Finland.
The Finnish court announced on Monday that Ekpa was sentenced to prison for being a member of a terrorist group, encouraging others to commit crimes for terrorist purposes, committing aggravated tax fraud, and breaking the rules of the Lawyers Act.
The court claimed that he used “illegal means” to fight for the independence of a separatist region in Nigeria and “equipped the groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his contact network.”
As they flee Nigerian forces that are getting closer to Owerri in September 1968, Ibo refugees from the separatist Nigerian state of Biafra carry things on their heads. Picture from AP
In September 1968, Ibo refugees from the separatist Nigerian state of Biafra fled from Nigerian forces near Owerri, carrying possessions on their heads. Photo by AP
In 2024, the Nigerian military put up a wanted poster for Ekpa along with over 100 other people wanted on terrorism accusations. The Nigerian authorities wanted him to be sent back to Nigeria after he was arrested in Finland.
For years, IPOB has tried to get the failed independence movement started again in Biafra. Biafra was a country that only lasted a short time. It included Nigeria’s southeastern states, which would later become oil-producing territories.
The Nigerian military administration turned down the secession, which led to a civil war from 1967 to 1970 that killed at least 3 million people.
In 2017, Nigeria banned the group.
Finland will take swastikas off of its air force banners so that things don’t get “awkward” with its Western allies.
Ekpa took over for Nnamdi Kanu, the group’s founder. In 2021, Interpol apprehended Kanu in Kenya as part of a sting operation and sent him back to Nigeria. Kanu is still in jail, and his trial is still going on.
The group stopped all business activities in the area every Monday after Kanu was arrested. This has been going on since 2021.
According to SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based geopolitical risk advisory, the “sit-at-home” protests caused 700 lives and damaged the Nigerian economy 7.6 trillion naira (€4.09 billion).
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