Finnish court jails Simon Ekpa for terrorism, financial crimes

The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland has sentenced Nigerian-born politician Simon Ekpa to six years in prison after convicting him of multiple terrorism-related and financial offences.

According to court documents obtained on Monday, September 1, the 40-year-old former Lahti municipal politician was found guilty of:

Participating in the activities of a terrorist group

Inciting the public to commit crimes for terrorist purposes

Engaging in aggravated tax fraud

Violating the Lawyers Act

The court also ordered that Ekpa remain in custody to serve his sentence.

According to the ruling, Ekpa promoted the independence of the so-called Biafra region in southeastern Nigeria through illegal activities between August 2021 and November 2024.

“He used social media to gain a politically influential position and exploited the confusion within a key separatist movement in Nigeria to take on a significant role,” the court stated.

On August 31, 2025, the court also determined that Ekpa played a key role in structuring the separatist movement into an organised group, under which armed factions classified as terrorist organisations were created.

The judges found that he supplied these groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition, and encouraged followers on X (formerly Twitter) to commit crimes in Nigeria.

The trial, which ran from May 30 to June 25, 2025, included 12 days of hearings, with a panel of three judges unanimously delivering the verdict.

Ekpa, who denied all charges, was arrested in December 2024 after Finnish authorities accused him of spreading separatist propaganda and inciting violence through social media.

At the time, the National Bureau of Investigation also pursued four other suspects linked to terrorism allegations, but charges against them were dropped due to insufficient evidence.