{"id":52136,"date":"2025-09-01T12:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/nigerian-separatist-leader-simon-ekpa-sentenced-in-finland-to-6-years-in-prison\/01\/09\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:22:11","slug":"nigerian-separatist-leader-simon-ekpa-sentenced-in-finland-to-6-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/nigerian-separatist-leader-simon-ekpa-sentenced-in-finland-to-6-years-in-prison\/01\/09\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian separatist leader Simon Ekpa sentenced in Finland to 6 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Simon Ekpa, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nigeria-violence-terrorism-finland-detention-lahti-ekpa-779f32a6b2df3144cadcab6b48a8c0dc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:a Nigerian separatist leader,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">a Nigerian separatist leader,<\/a> has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Finnish court for terrorism, tax fraud and an ethical violation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ekpa, who lives in Finland, heads the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/africa-nigeria-a7f1e918e1f647ff92dae7a4dd0459e5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Nigeria,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in Nigeria,<\/a> which has been allegedly responsible for killings and abductions of hundreds of people in Nigeria&#8217;s southeastern region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Finnish court said Simon Ekpa was sentenced to six years in prison for participating in the activities of a terrorist group, public incitement to commit a crime for terrorist purposes, aggravated tax fraud and violating the provisions of the Lawyers Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The court said he pushed for the independence of a separatist region in Nigeria through \u201cillegal means\u201d and \u201cequipped the groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his contact network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 2024, the Nigerian military declared Ekpa wanted as part of nearly 100 people sought on charges of terrorism. After his arrest in Finland, the Nigerian government sought his extradition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For years, IPOB has sought to reignite a failed secession push by former Biafra. Biafra was a short-lived country that comprised Nigeria&#8217;s southeastern states, including future oil-producing areas. The Nigerian military government rejected the secession, which led to a civil war between 1967 and 1970, in which at least 3 million people died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The group was banned in Nigeria in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ekpa took over from Nnamdi Kanu, the group&#8217;s founder who was arrested by Interpol in a sting operation in 2021 in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria. Kanu has since been in prison, with his trial still ongoing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In response to Kanu&#8217;s arrest, the group forbade any commercial activity every Monday in the region, a disruption that has been ongoing since 2021. The \u201csit-at-home\u201d protests have led to 700 deaths, according to a count by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based geopolitical risk advisory, and cost the Nigerian economy 7.6 trillion naira ($4.79 billion).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/nigerian-separatist-leader-simon-ekpa-155656176.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) &mdash; Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader, has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Finnish court<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/nigerian-separatist-leader-simon-ekpa-sentenced-in-finland-to-6-years-in-prison\/01\/09\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/cv\/apiv2\/social\/images\/yahoo_default_logo-1200x1200.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}