Claims circulating on social media suggesting that Simon Ekpa, a Finnish-Nigerian separatist figure, will be extradited to Nigeria in July 2025 have been firmly denied by both Nigerian and Finnish authorities, as well as by his legal counsel.
Ekpa, a dual national of Finland and Nigeria, was arrested by Finnish authorities in November 2024 on terrorism-related charges tied to his online campaign for Biafran independence. Since then, misinformation about his legal status has spread, including a viral post on X that falsely claimed he would soon be transferred to Nigeria to stand trial.
The headline of the April 22, 2025, post reads: “Simon Ekpa to Be Extradited to Nigeria from Finland in July.” The post, which has garnered over 100 shares, alleges that Finnish authorities have confirmed Ekpa’s extradition following “months of diplomatic negotiations and legal proceedings between Nigeria and Finland, marking a significant step in addressing the unrest linked to Ekpa’s activities in Nigeria’s southeast.” An altered image accompanies the post, depicting Ekpa in an orange jumpsuit behind bars—an image later proven to be doctored.
The claim originated from an account named “Pastor Okezie J. Atañi,” which has more than 49,000 followers and frequently promotes content favorable to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC). Similar claims have also appeared across Facebook.
Ekpa has positioned himself as a leader of a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist group advocating for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast—a region deeply scarred by the Biafran civil war in the late 1960s. He has been held in detention since November 21, 2024, after Finnish authorities opened a terrorism investigation into his online activities, which allegedly incited violence.
In March 2025, Nigeria’s Sanctions Committee named Ekpa and 16 entities as suspected financiers of terrorism, ordering the freezing of related bank accounts and assets.
In response to the viral extradition claim, Ekpa’s attorney, Kaarle Gummerus, told BBC Pidgin on April 16, 2025, that his client is scheduled to appear before a Finnish court in June 2025 for pre-trial hearings. When contacted by AFP Fact Check, Gummerus dismissed the extradition rumor as “fake news.”
Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also confirmed that there is no such agreement in place. In an email dated April 28, 2025, senior detective Mikko Laaksonen stated that Finnish police are “not aware of any extradition decision.”
Additionally, two Nigerian Ministry of Justice spokespersons, Modupe Ogundoro and Kamarudeen Ogundele, both said in separate phone interviews that they had no knowledge of any active extradition process involving Ekpa.
A reverse image search using Google Lens further confirmed that the image attached to the X post was manipulated. The original stock photo, which does not feature Ekpa, was first uploaded to iStock on May 7, 2018.
