Claim
@Akparawasunny, a loyal disciple to the Biafra factional leader, Simon Ekpa, has claimed that his boss was only invited by the Finnish government to know more about the Biafra agitation.
Verdict
This claim is MISLEADING. Reports by Finnish local and other international credible media organizations confirmed the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafran Republic Government In Exile(BRIGE) was arrested on Thursday by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Full Text
A follower of Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed leader of the autopilot faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), claimed that the Mr Ekpa was only invited by the Finnish government to know more about the Biafra agitation.
@Akparawasunny wrote that Finland invited their statesman Simon Ekpa for questioning on the Biafra affairs to know more about Biafra.
He made this claim on November 21.
Mr Ekpa and his followers have always addressed the Nigerian military as terrorists in any of their social media posts.
The post generated over 100k views and more than 1k likes as many of his followers on X believed that this is true.
Verification
Citing a credible local news organization in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat reported that on Thursday, the district court ordered Simon Ekpa to be imprisoned with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.
The police want four more people to be arrested for financing the crime of terrorism.
The police do not elaborate on the content of the suspected crime in the press release.
Ekpa’s suspected crime would have taken place between August 23, 2021 and November 18, 2024 in Lahti, based on the district court’s coercive information.
For the other four, the suspected financing of the crime of terrorism would have taken place in August 2022, also in Lahti. The other four suspects are persons with a foreign background born in the 1970s or 1960s.
All five suspects were arrested during the first week. The police say that during the preliminary investigation, they had international cooperation.
Check this similar story here and here.
Checks on the X profile of Mr Ekpa showed that he’s yet to make any post since November 18. Unlike before, the Biafra leader often makes posts on his X account. So this is a confirmation that he’s still in custody at the moment.
Conclusion
Simon Ekpa’s disciple intentionally made the post to mislead his followers. Mr Ekpa was never invited but was arrested by the Finnish authorities.
Credit: FactWatch
