Posts claiming the Finnish president pledged to support Biafra are false

For decades, secessionists in Nigeria have campaigned to break off the country’s southeast and create a new country called Biafra. A widely shared video appears to show Finnish President Alexander Stubb pledging his support for the separatist cause. However, AFP Fact Check found that the clip had been doctored: in the original footage, the leader expresses sympathy for Ukraine.

“A pladge from Finnis president (sic),” read the caption of a video posted on X and shared almost 1,000 times since it was published on November 20, 2024.

The clip was published by an account that identifies as Biafran and regularly shares content in support of the secessionist movement with its over 10,000 followers.

The video shows a collage of Finland’s Stubb and Simon Ekpa, a dual Finnish-Nigerian national who is also the self-proclaimed leader of a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Biafra supporters have been pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast, where a bloody civil war was fought in the late 1960s.

Ekpa was arrested in Finland on November 21 on suspicion of terrorism activities for inciting  (archived here).

Police said they believed he incited “violence against civilians and public authorities and in other crimes in southeast Nigeria” from Finland.

In the misleading video, Stubb is heard saying: “Finland’s winter war lasted 105 days, your war has lasted 10 times longer. We understand what you are going through, we will support you for as long as it takes. We support you because it is morally right. We support you because you’re fighting for your independence, but we also support you because you’re fighting for Europe’s security.”

The claim has appeared elsewhere on X, as well as on Facebook and TikTok.

Unrelated video

AFP Fact Check extracted keyframes from the video and ran reverse image searches on them using the InVid WeVerify tool.

This led to the original footage, which was posted by the Finnish president himself on his official X account (archived here).

“Ukraine has been fighting for its independence for 1,000 days. Finland’s support for Ukraine remains unwavering. We will continue to stand by Ukraine,” his post reads.

The original 35-second clip starts the same way as the one shared by pro-Biafra accounts but lasts a few seconds longer. In these final deleted seconds, Stubb says: “The fight in Ukraine is our fight. Slava Ukraini!”

At no point does he mention Nigeria or Biafra.

Pro-Biafra activists have repeatedly shared false claims that foreign governments have endorsed the secession of a Biafran nation from Nigeria.

You can read our debunks on the topic here and here.