Finnish police arrest Biafra agitator Simon Ekpa, four others on terror charges

Biafra separatist agitator Simon Ekpa has been arrested by police in Finland on charges of public incitement and terrorism.
Mr. Ekpa the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government In-Exile, was arrest Thursday with four other individuals.
The police statement noted that “the requests for remand are related to a criminal investigation in which a dual citizen of Finland and Nigeria born in the 1980s is suspected of public exhortation to an offence, committed with terrorist intent.
“The police suspect that the man has furthered his efforts from Finland in such a way that has resulted in violence against civilians and public authorities and in other crimes in South-East Nigeria.
“He has carried out this activity by campaigning, for example, on his social media channels, says Head of Investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen of the National Bureau of Investigation.”
It added that the other four persons are suspected of financing Ekpa’s terrorism activity and confirmed that the five suspects have been apprehended early this week.
The Finnish police said it carried out international cooperation during the criminal investigation.
It is not the first time Ekpa has been arrested in Finland. In February 2023, days before the presidential and national assembly elections, Ekpa was arrested in Finland where he resides after threatening that the elections would not be held in the South-East.
Ekpa was arrested by the police in his residence in the Lahti area of the country, a Finnish paper Helsingin Sanomat had reported.
In August, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Elina Valtonen, had said that the Finnish government was taking action against Ekpa.
She disclosed this in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, during a press conference she addressed alongside her Nordic counterparts.
According to her, the case of Ekpa whose activities were reported to the Finnish government by the Nigerian government, is now before Finnish courts.
Self-proclaimed Biafra Prime Minister Ekpa has been a strong proponent of sit-at-home directives in the South Eastern states despite the mainstream leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) suspending the exercise.