By Pascal Ibe

Claim

A Facebook page, Ammy America, claimed that a Biafran leader, Simon Ekpa, has been released by the Finnish court.

Verdict

This claim is UNPROVEN. A follower of Mr Ekpa only shared the image and videos of his reunion meeting with his followers on Tuesday afternoon inside the Finnish court. Also, no credible news organization in Finland or Nigeria confirmed this claim to be true.

Full Text

A Facebook page, Ammy America, has claimed that the detained Biafran leader, Simon Ekpa, has regained freedom.

Mr Ekpa, 40, was arrested alongside four others on 21 November 2024 on suspicion of terrorist activities.

The Finnish police said Mr Ekpa “has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”

The District Court of Päijät-Häme later ordered that the pro-Biafra agitator be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”

On May 30, A Finnish court began the terrorism trial of Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator.

The Finnish government, in mid-May, charged Mr Ekpa with public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent and participation in a terrorist group.

A Nigerian-Finnish citizen, Mr Ekpa heads Autopilot, a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south of Nigeria.

The separatist group has been linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions, although it has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.

The Facebook post which had garnered hundreds of reactions and comments with a video attached to it, reads, “Simon Ekpa has been released ”.

Many people who commented on the post believed that this claim is true. Therefore FactWatch Nigeria decided to run a check on it.

Verification

To verify this, FactWatch Nigeria first traced this video shared by the Facebook page to other social media platforms, especially on X.

We found out that a loyal supporter of Mr Ekpa, Simon Ekpa Akparawa was among the earliest people who shared on X, this video of the Biafran leader and his followers inside the Finnish court around 2pm(Nigeria time) on Tuesday afternoon.

@akparawasunny posted this video with a caption that reads, “BIAFRANS JOIN PM SIMON EKPA LIVE IN FINLAND COURT

See related post on this distributed by Ekpa’s follower here. However, he didn’t reveal that Ekpa was released.

Also, at the moment, no credible news organization in Finland or Nigeria has confirmed that Ekpa has regained freedom.

On June 10, Ekpa, who appeared in court through an English interpreter, said he was an “average Nigerian supporter” until he heard at the turn of the decade that his home community in Biafra had been attacked by pro-Nigerian forces.

“Three of the women had been killed, their throats had been slit — I myself lost my mother when I was three months old. The killing of these women hit me very hard,” Ekpa told the court, his voice breaking.

Helsingin Sanomat reports that Ekpa began live-streaming on social media, sharing information, photos, and videos about the situation in Nigeria’s Southeast. He said he understood that it would be best if the Biafrans were “freed” from Nigeria.

Ekpa said he was elected as the Prime Minister of the Biafra government-in-exile, but that this position was purely ceremonial, according to Ekpa. He has completely denied any affiliation with IPOB.

Ekpa denied that he had any authority over the local government or armed groups, saying his target audience was people outside Nigeria’s Southeast.

Conclusion

At the moment, there’s strong evidence that supports the claim that Simon Ekpa has been released.