Ten Things You Need To Know About Simon Ekpa As Nigeria Seeks His Extradition
The Nigerian Defence Headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, announced plans to extradite Simon Ekpa, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to face charges in Nigeria.
The announcement was made by Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, the Director of Defence Information, who confirmed that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Chris Musa, welcomed Ekpa’s arrest in Finland.
The stand of the Defence Headquarters comes after Ekpa was remanded by a Finnish district court in Lahti on probable cause for public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent in Nigeria.
Authorities allege that Ekpa used social media platforms to spread separatist propaganda linked to IPOB, which advocates for the secession of southeastern Nigeria. These activities are reported to date back to August 2021.
Here are ten things to know about Simon Ekpa:
– Ekpa was born on 21 March 1985, in Ohaukwu, Ebonyi State, in the southeastern Nigeria.
– He won the 100-meter silver medal for Nigeria at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships in Cameroon.
– He left athletics because of a knee problem.
– In September 2021, Ekpa denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships, and renounced his Nigerian citizenship the following year.
– In July 2024, he said he had returned the medals to the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– Ekpa was the Chairman of the Igbo Union Finland from 2015 until 2019.
– He has also served as the Chairman of the Playground Board, in the City Lahti, a position he held between 2017 until 2021.
– Since 2007, he has lived with his family in Lahti, Finland. He learned Finnish, became a citizen and did military service in the Finnish military at the Häme Regiment in Hennala in 2013 as well as a reservist in the Finnish Army.
– Ekpa joined the Finnish politics in 2012 and has been active since then. He ran as a candidate in the 2017 Finnish municipal elections and was also a candidate in the 2022 Finnish county elections under the National Coalition Party of Finland.
– Ekpa has stated that he is an expert, a legal advisor, and has a Master of Law (LLM) degree from the Welsh Aberystwyth University, but upon inquiry by Yle, the university didn’t give any information about the degree.Ekpa has no apparent lower or higher legal degree.
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