By Pascal Ibe
By introduction
Eleven months after the conviction and sentencing of the infamous Biafra leader, Simon Ekpa, to six years for terrorism by a Finnish court, he is back in court to appeal the judgment.
Ekpa, the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, an autopilot faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, was arrested in Finland in 2024 after being accused of aiding terrorism in Nigeria’s South-east.
However, his trial, which lasted for four months, ended with the court sentencing him to six years’ imprisonment in September last year. His assets were also confiscated.
On many occasions, Ekpa has denied sponsoring terrorism.
Claim
Video clips of the Biafran leader’s court appearance have been surfacing on the X platform since this week, with his supporters rallying around him in a show of solidarity.
However, one of his supporters, @UgoJustrealugo (Ugo247), posted an image of Ekpa lifting his hands in victory in the courtroom.
The X user captioned the image,“ A powerful courtroom moment, capturing emotion and the belief that justice has prevailed.”
The post has since generated over 4,000 views, hundreds of likes and reposts, with comments which indicate that other Biafran agitators believe that the image was real.
Verification
However, FACTWATCH Nigeria subjected the image to some AI detection devices and found that it was AI-generated.
First, the photo was checked in a Deep AI detection device, and the result showed that the image was 91 per cent AI-generated.
Also, ZeroGPT corroborated the results displayed by Deep AI. It also labelled it as fake.
Another tool, SightEngine, says the photo is 99 per cent AI-generated.
Verdict
The image, which claims to show Ekpa lifting his hands as a sign of victory inside the courtroom, is FALSE, as simple findings have shown that the photo was AI-generated.
