Simon Ekpa, leader of a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been arrested by the Finnish Central Criminal Police.
The Biafra agitator was arrested alongside four others on Thursday on suspicion of terrorist activities, a Finnish newspaper reported.
According to the Finnish police Mr Ekpa “has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”
“The police suspect that the man (Ekpa) has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians and authorities as well as other crimes in the region of South-eastern Nigeria.
“The man has carried out this activity, among other things, on his social media channels,” the Head of the investigation, Crime Commissioner, Otto Hiltunen of the Central Criminal Police, was quoted as saying.
The Nigerian-Finnish citizen, was said to have been indicted for financing terrorism alongside the four other suspects.
The police suspect that the Biafra agitator committed the crime of collecting money in violation of the Finnish Money Collection Act.
The Finnish police reported that he allegedly committed the crimes between 23 August 2021 and 18 November 2024 in Lahti, a town in Finland.
The other four suspects are persons with a foreign background born in the 1970s or 1960s, according to the report.
They were said to have committed the crime in August 2022, also in Lahti.
Aside from Mr Ekpa, the identities of the four suspects were not provided.
“All five suspects were arrested during the first week. The police say that during the preliminary investigation, they had international cooperation,” the report said.
Imprisoned?
The report said the District Court of Päijät-Häme, on Thursday, ordered that Mr Ekpa be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”
But it is not clear, for now, if the pro-Biafra agitator has been imprisoned.
Not the first time
In February 2023, Finnish authorities arrested Mr Ekpa, shortly after he threatened to disrupt Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections. The pro-Biafra agitator was later released shortly after being questioned by Finnish police.
Ekpa has been linked to growing insecurity in south-east Nigeria. He has continued to issue sit-at-home orders in the region during which residents who step out are sometimes killed or attacked by gunmen enforcing the illegal order.
The IPOB leader has been using his social media pages, mainly X, to push a secessionist agenda, issue illegal orders, disseminate fake news, and solicit funds for suspected terrorist activities.
On 3 July 2023, for instance, he posted via his verified X handle that 50 men and 50 women were needed to fund the Biafra movement with $10,000 monthly for the next six months, with the promise that this would lead to the restoration of Biafra by the end of 2023.
The Nigerian government had made unsuccessful and repeated efforts to extradite Mr Ekpa to Nigeria to face prosecution.