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Finnish Government Responds To Nigeria’s Request On Simon Ekpa
The Finnish government has announced that it has begun addressing the complaint lodged by the Nigerian government against Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen.
Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Elina Valtonen, revealed this during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
Valtonen stated that Ekpa’s case is currently before Finnish courts, confirming that the matter has been taken up in discussions with Nigerian authorities and is now proceeding through Finland’s judicial system.
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“We have taken this up and discussed it with the Nigerian authorities, and the entire process is within our judicial system,” Valtonen said.
She also mentioned that the issue was raised during a meeting with Nigerian government officials earlier that day, though she did not provide further details on the legal proceedings.
For years, the Nigerian government has called for decisive action from the Finnish government and the European Union to curb Ekpa’s inflammatory social media activities, which have been linked to violence and instability in Nigeria’s South-East region.
Valtonen and her Nordic counterparts arrived in Nigeria on Monday to discuss peace, security, and to promote trade and investment cooperation between their countries and Nigeria.
Joining her on this historic group visit were Tobias Billström, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden; Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland; Bjørg Sandkjær, State Secretary for International Development of Norway; and Ms. Eva Marie Frida Barløse, Under Secretary for Foreign Policy of Denmark.
Finnish Nigeria Simon Ekpa
The Nordic ministers said they met with the Nigerian government and officials of the West African regional body, ECOWAS, on Tuesday.
According to them, issues of security, economic cooperation, education, trade and investments, and the rule of law, among other topics of shared interests, came up in the deliberation with the Nigerian government.
Ekpa’s case, which has strained the Finnish government’s diplomatic relationship with the Nigerian government, was also discussed, according to Ms Valtomen, who avoided mentioning the name of the Nigerian-Finnish citizen.
According to Premium Times, the Finnish Minister, did not explicitly mention Ekpa’s name, but her description of the case pointed unmistakably to the agitator, whose matter has created a fault line in the Nigeria-Finland diplomatic relationship.
Valtomen stressed that the principle of the rule of law would guide Finland’s handling of Ekpa’s case.
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“Finland operates very strictly by the rule of law,” she said, adding that the matter is not a political question but an issue that would be decided solely by Finnish courts.
She said, “It is a question to the judicial system, and both our judicial systems collaborate on this matter, and we hope that we will be able to close it soon.”
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