Finland on Thursday detained a Nigerian separatist leader suspected of terrorism activities for his online independence campaign that allegedly incited violence against civilians.
Simon Ekpa, who claims to lead the Biafra Republic’s government in exile — was remanded in custody on suspicion of “public exhortation to an offence committed with a terrorist intent”, the Paijat-Hame District Court told AFP.
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 is also a local representative for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party in the city of Lahti, north of Helsinki, where he serves on a public transport committee.
Police said they believed he incited “violence against civilians and public authorities and in other crimes in southeast Nigeria” from Finland, said Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“He has carried out this activity by campaigning, for example, on his social media channels,” he added.
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.
Dada Olusegun, special assistant to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, thanked Finland on social media for the arrest, predicting that Ekpa would be extradited.
“Thank you Finland. See you soon Prime Minister,” he posted, in a mocking reference to Ekpa’s self-awarded title of prime minister of the Biafra’s government in exile.
Finnish investigators also requested that four other people be remanded in custody on suspicion of financing Ekpa’s activities.
The court was due to make its decision later Thursday.
All five suspects were arrested earlier this week, police said.
Discussion about this post