Supporters of the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of Biafra Government in Exile, Mr. Simon Ekpa, has declared the United States of Biafra in Finland.
Ekpa’s followers gathered in Lahti to declare the utopia nation.
In a viral video sighted by Newsband Newspaper showed a large number of agitators arriving in Finland for the event titled Biafra Mass Exodus 2024.
Mrs. Ngozi Orabueze, who claim to be a Chief of Staff to Simon Ekpa, presided over the convention.
Orabueze, a practicing nurse and former chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Atlanta, United States, was appointed in March 2023 as Minister of Health, Oil, and Gas for the Biafra Republic Government-in-Exile.
On her official social media account, Orabueze posted updates about the declaration, which included plans to adopt a new currency and time zone.
She said, “Biafra has been re-declared today, 29th of November 2024,” she announced, adding, “Power belongs to the people.”
The event included a list of proposed states within the re-declared entity. The crowd sang Igbo songs and expressed solidarity with the movement.
Meanwhile, the government of Finland early this week announced that Mr Simon Ekpa, the arrowhead of the autopilot group—a breakaway faction of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) will remain in detention as his trial is scheduled to start in May 2025 after he was arrested for terror-related activities.
He was taken into custody alongside four others suspected to be his financiers.
According to Mikko Laaksonen, Senior Detective Superintendent at Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, the district court has set May 2025 as the deadline for prosecutors to lodge potential charges against Mr Ekpa.
Finnish authorities also stressed that cross-border cooperation is crucial to the investigation.
Though, officials have refrained from discussing the nature or extent of this international collaboration.
