The Päijät-Häme district court in Finland has sentenced Simon Ekpa, pro-Biafra agitator, to six years in prison for terrorism offences.

In a ruling delivered on Monday, the court found Ekpa guilty of inciting terrorism and participating in the activities of a terrorist group.

According to a Finnish newspaper, the court said Ekpa had used his “significant social media following” to stoke tensions in Nigeria’s south-east region between August 2021 and November 2024.

In a unanimous ruling, the three-member panel of judges also stated that Ekpa was an influential member of a militant separatist movement whose goal was to actualise the carving out of a Biafra state from Nigeria.

The district court also noted that Ekpa had supplied certain groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition “through his network of contacts in the region, and he was also found to have encouraged his followers on social media platform X to commit crimes in Nigeria”.

The court also convicted Ekpa of aggravated tax fraud and violating the provisions of the Attorneys Act.

• Deceased Ruth Otabor

The Dangote Group pledged to compensate the family of Ruth Otabor ( the younger sister of Big Brother Naija Season 7 winner, Phyna) who died as a result of Dangote’s truck accident.

Ruth, who was hit by a truck linked to the Dangote Group near Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, on Wednesday, died on Sunday morning of August 31.

Eyewitnesses reported that the heavy-duty truck, which hit Otabor, crushed her leg before it was eventually chased down and stopped by a bystander.

While she was being treated at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, Phyna demanded that her sister be flown to India for medical treatment.

Consequently, the Dangote Group stepped in and pledged full medical support and compensation in line with its welfare policy.

Sadly, while the company was making preparations to fly her to India for the treatment, she diedat about 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

The representatives of Dangote Group were contacted and notified.

They later came and took the corpse to the mortuary.

“We are expecting that they take over the expenses of her burial, since they had stepped in to take over her medical expenses,”said a family member.

• * Classroom

The federal government has introduced a new curriculum framework for basic, senior secondary, and technical education.

This is to reduce overload and improve the quality of learning in schools.

The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Sai’d Ahmad, announced the development in a statement signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, yesterday.

According to her, the new structure ensures a balance between subject offerings and practical, in-depth learning.

At the primary level, pupils in Primary 1–3 will take 9–10 subjects, while those in Primary 4–6 will take 10–12.

Similarly, Junior Secondary School students will have 12–14 subjects, while Senior Secondary students will take 8–9: and technical schools, 9–11 subjects.

Prof. Ahmad explained that the reforms were designed to reduce content overload, give students more time to learn, and align education with contemporary global realities.

The curriculum was fine-tuned by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC; Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC; National Senior Secondary Education Commission, NSSEC; National Board for Technical Education, NBTE; and other stakeholders.