The Di Päijät-Häme District Court on Monday (today) sentenced Simon Ekpa to six years in prison over terrorism offences.
According to the court document, 40-year-old Ekpa, a former Lahti municipal politician, was accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group.
He was also accused of inciting the public to commit crimes for terrorist purposes, engaged in aggravated tax fraud, and violating the provisions of the Lawyers Act.
He was accused of promoting the secession of the Biafra region in South East of Nigeria from the Federal Republic of Nigeria by illegal means between August 2021 and November 2024.
He was said to have deployed social media to gain political influence and take advantage of the confusion from it for the key separatist movement in Nigeria, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to take a significant role.
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The court also said it found out that Ekpa founded and developed the activities of the separatist movement into increasingly organised form alongside others.
It said armed groups were established under the movement.
He was accused of equipping the armed groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his contact network, adding that he influenced his X account followers to commit crimes in Nigeria.
According to the BBC, the hearing, by a panel of three judges, heard the case from May 30 to June 25, 2025 in 12 sessions.
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