An NCP municipal politician is suspected of disseminating separatist propaganda that has led to violence. Finnish police have investigated the case together with Nigerian authorities.<\/p>\n
Lahti municipal politician\u00a0Simon Ekpa<\/strong>\u00a0has been charged with terrorism offences.<\/p>\n Ekpa, a 40-year-old Nigerian-born entrepreneur, is still listed as a member of the city\u2019s public transit board, representing Prime Minister\u00a0Petteri Orpo<\/strong>\u2019s National Coalition Party. He has formerly served on three other local administrative boards.<\/p>\n The Deputy Prosecutor General decided to charge Ekpa with public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent and participation in a terrorist group.<\/p>\n According to the prosecutor, the charges relate to his activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state in Nigeria\u2019s Biafra region. It was briefly independent in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n The charges are part of a larger investigation during which the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation detained five people. Four of them were suspected of providing financing for terrorist offences. These four were released during the preliminary investigation.<\/p>\n The charges were filed on Friday morning. The case will be heard in P\u00e4ij\u00e4t-H\u00e4me District Court in Lahti. A hearing date has not yet been set.<\/p>\n Ekpa is suspected of committing the crimes between August 2021 and November 2024.<\/p>\n He is suspected of spreading separatist propaganda from his home in Lahti. The police are investigating the case together with Nigerian authorities, as Ekpa’s activities are believed to have led to violence and other crimes against civilians and authorities in southeastern Nigeria.<\/p>\n Ekpa has been in custody since last November. He has denied committing any crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An NCP municipal politician is suspected of disseminating separatist propaganda that has led to violence. Finnish police have investigated the case together with Nigerian authorities. Lahti municipal politician\u00a0Simon Ekpa\u00a0has been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n