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No evidence Finnish government labelled Nigeria’s defence chief Christopher Musa a terrorist

IN SHORT: According to a video going viral on Facebook, the Finnish government has labelled Nigeria’s chief of defence staff, General Christopher Musa, a terrorist. But there is no evidence to support this claim.     

video circulating on Facebook claims that the government of Finland has labelled Nigeria’s chief of defence staff, General Christopher Musa, a terrorist. 

In the video, the narrator speaks in a mix of English and Igbo, the language predominantly spoken in Nigeria’s southeastern region.

The narrator can be heard saying: “The Finland government gives Musa a very big disgrace, calls him a terrorist, CDS Musa. PM vindicated. From a very reliable source, Finland has now declared their stand on the issue of terrorism happening in Nigeria. And they have started with Christopher Gwabin Musa, who they say is the chief of defence staff in the zoo military. Finland now confirmed that Musa is the real terrorist, not Simon Ekpa.”

The video was first posted by the Facebook page Biafra Tv News, which has over 172,000 followers. The page also broke the video into 34 clips and posted them as reels. 

Each reel is less than 30 seconds and has the same caption as the full video: “BREAKING_NIGERIA_GOVT_PANIC__Label_CDS_MUSA_AS_T£RRORIST__VINDICATED_SIMON_EKPA__BIAFRA_REACTS.”

The page posts updates on efforts to restore Biafra, a region in southeastern Nigeria, whose secession in 1967 led to a 30-month civil war. When the war ended, the region was reintegrated into Nigeria.

Biafra separatists often refer to Nigeria as a “zoo”, especially followers of Nnamdi Kanu and Simon Ekpa. Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, and Ekpa is a Finland-based Biafran separatist who claims to be the prime minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile

Ekpa was arrested in November 2024. He faces terrorism charges for inciting violence against security agents in south-east Nigeria.   

The narrator also claimed that the Finnish government had decided to release Ekpa on 5 September 2025 and criticised Musa for asking Nigerians to acquire combat skills for self-defence.

The claim also appears herehere and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)

But has the Finnish government labelled Musa a terrorist? We checked.

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MusaClaim_False

No evidence to support this

In June 2024, Musa accused Finland and the European Union of shielding Ekpa and insisted that Finnish authorities prosecute him. Musa also sought Ekpa’s extradition to Nigeria. 

In August 2025, Musa told journalists that Nigeria’s southeastern geopolitical zone had become safer since Ekpa’s arrest. 

All these and other updates on Ekpa’s trial have been widely reported in the media. If the Finnish government had referred to Musa as a terrorist, the media would’ve also reported it. But we found no such articles from any credible news outlet.

The video provided no details about when and who exactly in the Finnish government called Musa a terrorist. Such a lack of important information is typical of made-up stories. 

There is no evidence to support the claim that the Finnish government has labelled Musa a terrorist.

The same claim was found hereherehereherehereherehereherehere and here.

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