An X user, @EngrICO2015 posted a claim that Finland has sued Nigeria government to the International Criminal Court over a Finland-based separatist leader, Simon Ekpa for being wrongfully tagged as terrorist for defending South-East of Nigeria against Fulani terrorists.
A picture of Ekpa posing with an unidentified man was posted on December 6, 2024 with the caption, “BREAKING NEWS ! Finland sue Nigeria govt at the ICC to come and prove how their bonafide CITIZEN was tagged a terrorist wrongfully for defending his people from fulani terrorist ! Interesting time ahead …keep in touch for more as it develops !”.
The claim has since garnered over 79,300 views, 283 comments, 559 reposts and quotes, 1,200 likes and 38 bookmarks. Different X users shared their thoughts under the post. A verified X user, @Idaralite commented saying, “The crimes of Nigerian government of APC is responsible for millions of deaths, directly and indirectly. The insecurity sponsored by politicians, who use the army and police to oppress those that resist. The gross human rights violations of APC politicians are monumental”.
Another X user, @Brian-Daco replied to the post saying, “The case between Simon Ikpa, Finland and the Nigerian government would be an interesting show of shame! & I look forward to seeing the end result,” while @MichaelOke72623 said, ”I tell them say no be person way first call police dey win case , Nigeria is time Let the game begin”.
Recall that Ekpa, the self-proclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was arrested and detained on November 21 in Finland on suspicion of terrorist activity. The Punch and Premium Times reported that Ekpa’s trial would begin in May 2025. Hence, NV-A went ahead to verify the claim on Finland suing Nigeria at the ICC over Ekpa.
VERIFICATION
NV-A did a thorough check of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) social media page on X, Facebook, and there was no post regarding a case between the Finnish and Nigerian government on these pages.
Moreover, keyword searches did not show any credible newspaper report on the Nigerian government being sued for wrongly tagging Ekpa as a terrorist. This researcher further checked the Finish government page on X for a press release statement on suing the Nigerian government but found nothing on the page. Also, the social media pages of the Nigerian government do not contain any information regarding being sued by the Finnish government.
Further research about the ICC revealed that the international court cannot hear cases about countries suing one another, but the ICC can only prosecute individuals for certain crimes which it has jurisdiction over. Currently, the ICC does not have jurisdiction over terrorism offenses as claimed by the post.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Finland sued Nigeria for wrongly tagging Ekpa as a Terrorist is FALSE, findings show that neither the Finnish government, Nigerian government nor ICC have issued a statement regarding this and the court mentioned in the viral post does not have jurisdiction over the countries suing one another or to hear terrorism cases..
