The Finnish authorities jailed Nigerian self-proclaimed separatist chief Simon Ekpa in November 2024 after he was arrested for suspected terrorist actions and incitement of violence in Nigeria. Since then, scores of accounts on Fb have claimed Ekpa has been launched from detention. However that is false; the Finnish Nationwide Bureau of Investigation advised AFP Reality Test that Ekpa continues to be in custody awaiting trial. Prosecutors have till Could 2025 to formalise costs in opposition to him.
“Breaking Information: Simon Ekpa Launched from Detention in Finland, Awarded $100,000 in Compensation,” reads the heading of a Fb submit printed on November 15, 2024.
Screenshot displaying the false submit, taken December 20, 2024
Shared greater than 200 occasions, the submit claims {that a} Finnish courtroom launched Ekpa because of the Nigerian authorities’s lack of ability “to current proof in courtroom to substantiate their allegations in opposition to him”.
The declare additionally said that Ekpa was awarded $100,000 in compensation for “unwarranted arrest and invasion of his privateness”.
The submit was printed on a web page known as “Igbo Instances Journal” which has a historical past of sharing content material important of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and his occasion All Progressives Congress (APC).
The web page has 41,000 followers and has been the topic of previous debunks by AFP Reality Test (right here, right here, right here, and right here).
Igbo Instances Journal additionally operates a weblog via which it commonly spreads misinformation.
Different accounts on Fb additionally shared the declare (right here, right here and right here).
Nonetheless, the posts are false.
Nonetheless behind bars
Ekpa, a twin Finnish-Nigerian nationwide, is a self-proclaimed chief of a faction of the Indigenous Folks of Biafra (IPOB), a bunch that’s pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast, the place a bloody civil struggle was fought within the late Sixties.
On November 21, 2024, Finnish authorities detained Ekpa on suspicion of terrorism actions for his on-line independence marketing campaign that allegedly incited violence in opposition to civilians (archived right here).
Ekpa — who claims to guide the nominal Biafra Republic’s authorities in exile — was remanded in custody on suspicion of “public exhortation to an offence dedicated with a terrorist intent,” the Paijat-Hame District Court docket advised AFP Reality Test.
Since his arrest, there have been no studies about him being launched.
In a response to an AFP Reality Test question about Ekpa’s standing, Finland’s Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stated the secessionist chief continues to be in custody.
“The investigation continues to be ongoing and can proceed subsequent yr. The suspect continues to be in custody,” wrote NBI’s spokeswoman Tessa Sarkka.
In one other electronic mail in search of clarification on when Ekpa’s trial would start, NBI’s senior detective Mikko Laaksonen stated the deadline to indict the Nigerian secessionist is Could 2025.
“The start of courtroom proceedings can not but be estimated. Almost certainly [they will start] in 2025. The deadline for [the] prosecution to press costs is in Could 2025 however it is usually doable to postpone this if the investigation is delayed for some purpose,” Laaksonen wrote.
