Finnish prosecutors on Friday said they had charged a man with inciting terrorism online who a media report identified as Nigerian separatist leader Simon Ekpa.

Finland’s National Prosecution Authority said in a statement that it had charged “a Finnish individual in a case involving suspected public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”

It added that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.

The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.

Ekpa — who claims to lead the Biafra Republic’s government in exile — was detained in November.

According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.

Ekpa is known as a self-proclaimed leader of a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which is pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast, where a bloody civil war was fought in the late 1960s.

The dual Finnish-Nigerian national has also been a local representative for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party in the city of Lahti, north of Helsinki, where he has served on a public transport committee.

When Ekpa was arrested, Finnish authorities also requested that four other people be remanded in custody on suspicion of financing Ekpa’s activities.

On Friday, the prosecution authority said the prosecutor had decided to drop charges against four others in the case due to a lack of evidence.

Ekpa has been the subject of several of AFP’s fact checks in recent years over false claims and disinformation he has made in independence campaigning.

AFP

In a bid invigorate the gaming industry in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), alongside the Director-General of the newly established FCT Lottery Regulatory Office, Lanre Gbajabiamila, has inaugurated a new office.

At a briefing, Gbajabiamila announced the office’s readiness to begin full regulatory oversight of all lottery and gaming operations within the territory, urging operators to begin submitting applications for new licences.

The FCT-LRO became necessary following the Supreme Court judgment in AG Lagos & Ors vs AG Federation & Anor SC/1/2008, which clarified that the FCT has the constitutional right to regulate gaming and lottery activities within its boundaries.

Gbajabiamila promised a regulatory environment built on clarity, stability, and global best practices.

According to him, the office aims to unlock the economic potential of the gaming sector, while boosting investor confidence and increasing internally generated revenue (IGR) for the FCT.

“Our priorities include collaboration with the Office of the FCT Minister and the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) to ensure proper oversight, fair practices, and prompt revenue remittance,” he said.

He further reassured existing operators that all licenses previously issued by the now-defunct National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) remain valid until expiration, and renewal fees remain the same under the new FCT Lottery Regulatory Office.

Acting Executive Chairman of the FCT-IRS, Michael Ango, praised the initiative as a strategic tool for economic growth.

He said it aligns with the broader vision of the Wike-led FCT administration to transform Abuja into a world-class capital.

“Abuja is fast emerging as a major tourist and leisure destination. The gaming sector is a vital piece of that puzzle, with huge potential to attract investment, create jobs, and boost economic activity,” Ango said.

He emphasised that the collaboration between the IRS and the FCT Lotteries Office will ensure efficient revenue generation and foster a responsible gaming environment that benefits both operators and residents.

With this development, the FCT is staking its claim as a serious player in Nigeria’s gaming industry, determined to regulate, grow, and profit from a sector long marked by inconsistency and underutilised potential.

Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, has said that soon people would understand the reason for mass defections from other political parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Recall there has been a gale of defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Former presidential running mate of the PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, and all PDP members in the House of Representatives from Delta State, defected to the APC.

Similarly, three PDP senators from Kebbi State defected to the APC.

In an interview with AIT’s ‘Focus Nigeria’, Moro said those party members who defected to the APC have sinned and are looking for forgiveness.

He said, “When history unfolds, we are going to have the privilege of knowing the main reasons why people are moving from PDP to the ruling party.

“It has always been the practice though, people don’t want to stay outside the corridors of power and so they quickly begin to realize that in the opposition, they won’t be getting as much as they want to get.

“Some of them who have been helmsmen at their various levels in the states, LGs, and Senate certainly have more reasons than Mets the eyes to moving to the ruling party.

“Don’t forget that a chieftain of the APC at one point said, if you move from your party to the APC, your sins are forgiven – so given the antecedents of some of the characters that are moving now – you can only conclude that they are only attesting to this assertion.

“They have sins and are looking for forgiveness, politically, these displaced persons may be going to the ruling party to ask for forgiveness, but is it in the interest of this country? Is it in the interest of democracy? Is it in the interest of the political development of this country that people continue to move from one political platform to the other?

“Where have principles taken flight to? Where has value taken flight to? You were elected on the platform of a political party and as the Supreme Court ruled, its political parties that people vote for, then you suddenly decide that you want to move to another political party which is predicated on the nebulous excuse that you are doing that in the interest of your constituency.”