INTERVIEW: Jonathan Administration Wanted Me To Implicate El-Rufai For My Freedom - Okah

Charles Okah, whose brother, Henry Okar, led the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, until he was jailed by South African authorities, speaks to PREMIUM TIMES about the aftermath of the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombing, his business deals with the United States and the United Kingdom and more.

HENRY OKAH

How were you arrested and where were you taken to from the time of your arrest to the time you were sent to Kuje Prison?

I was arrested at my residence in Apapa GRA, Lagos on Saturday, October 1, 2010 at about 1pm. There was no arrest warrant produced. It was a crude kidnap-type operation. The team leader told me that I was being arrested on suspicion of being the elusive spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, who goes by the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo. My eldest son who was back from school in the United States at the time was also arrested.  We were bound, blindfolded, and taken to the DSS Lagos office where we spent the night. The next morning, we were flown to their Abuja headquarters in a military plane. Two days later on Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010, the DSS spokeswoman, Ms Marilyn Ogar, was announcing on national television that “their investigations had revealed that Charles Tonbra Okah is Jomo Gbomo”. But barely two weeks after that announcement, while still in their custody, the same Jomo Gbomo released a statement, and has continued up till this day. I was transferred to Kuje Prison custody by an order of the court on December 24, 2010, where I have remained since then.

Before your arrest, what was your relationship with GEJ?

I was not close to him. I met him on a few occasions when he was deputy governor under my cousin, Chief Diepreye Alamiesiyegha. Again, when he was governor, he spoke to my brother through my phone in his office, because Henry did not want to call him directly. I also met him in Pretoria, South Africa as Vice President, when the then President Yar’Adua sent him, in the company of Chief Timipre Sylva, and Senator David Brigidi to establish communications with Henry towards addressing the problems inside the creeks. I was in South Africa on business at the time.

We understand that Goodluck Jonathan administration was constantly in contact with you here in Kuje Prison?

That is true. There were several surreptitious and nocturnal visits that spanned the over four years I have been held here in Kuje Prison. The visits were made by Gordon Obuah, former Chief Security Officer to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in company with the Special Adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku. Their mission was to ensure that I cooperated with the government in implicating Nasir El-Rufai and others in the October 1, 2010 bombing.  Mr. Obuah and Kuku said I would be set free if I implicated the perceived enemies of the former president.

When and how did they visit you in the prison?

The visits were done after the 6pm final lock-up of inmates. Before any visit, the Presidency and the DSS would inform the Controller General of Prisons who in turn would inform the Controller FCT Command, the Officer-in-Charge, Kuje prison and the Chief Warder to ensure they wait and receive the high profile visitors. The prison officials are usually told to wait outside the office of the Officer in Charge when the meeting is on. After these visits, some moneys were given to the prison officials for my welfare and that of two others arrested over the 50th Independence Day Anniversary bombing.  The last meetings came in late 2014, where I was shown a draft of an endorsement for Goodluck Jonathan by Mr. Kuku which he said had been sent by email to MEND. He promised that we would be released as soon as GEJ is voted for a second term, and wanted me to find ways to reach out to MEND to release that draft as its endorsement for Goodluck.  The former CSO on his part assured me he would ensure the container which was ordered by my company on behalf of the United States Embassy and seized by the DSS at the Tin Can Island Port on the allegation it contained plastic explosives, would be released to my wife. They also promised to off-set school fees owed by my children.

But MEND did not endorse Jonathan after all?

MEND refused to support Jonathan and I was told to forget any financial aid and to brace myself for another four year stay in prison when Goodluck wins, as if it was my fault the group endorsed Buhari.

Did you say you had a contract from the American Embassy?

Yes I did. The 40 foot container, which was not tendered in court as exhibit even though the reason given by the DSS for its seizure was that its contents included plastic explosives, was imported by my company for the American Embassy on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. The contents were plastic floating docks and installation accessories which originated from the EZ Dock Company in Monnet, Missouri, USA after we received a Local Purchase Order from the embassy which was approved in Washington.

Who is currently in custody of the container?

I have no idea. Since they claimed I imported plastic explosives for the American Embassy, I would expect the container to be at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos under heavy security or in the premises of the DSS in Abuja, to be presented at short notice to the court. My concern is the damage that has been done to the improperly stored contents of the legitimate import.

Did the American Government reach out to former President Goodluck Jonathan to sort out the issue of the container?

I have no idea what transpired between the Goodluck Jonathan government and the American Government. I was informed by my wife when she visited me at the DSS headquarters where I was being held that in an attempt to distance themselves, the American Embassy sent her a letter revoking the contract for the floating docks which had already been brought into the country. That was the least of my worry. My main concern was that the Embassy would refuse my son re-entry into the United States where he was concluding his studies at the University of Kansas. But as God would have it, the Embassy did not give him any trouble. The problem came from the DSS operatives attached to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport who refused him to leave on two occasions until Festus Keyamo intervened.

Did the Jonathan Government pay fees for your kids?

We got assistance from time to time from a few friends in the government, but this was not in any official capacity.

Apart from El-Rufai, who were the other person’s the administration wanted you to implicate in the Oct 1, 2010 bombing?

I wouldn’t know if the DSS interrogators were acting on instructions from GEJ but I know that they had a list of names but only presented the names of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. Somehow they were aware that I had visited Gen. Babangida early 2010, at his residence in Abuja, and wanted to use that visit as the platform to work out a false statement which would suggest that the general’s house was the rendezvous for an assassination plot to eliminate former President Jonathan on Oct 1, 2010.

Were some of the people you were asked to implicate aware of the plot?

I don’t know since I have not had contact with the outside world. The only person who got to know at that time was Mallam Nasir El Rufai. I had managed to smuggle a letter from the prison to warn him and others. He later published that letter in his book, “The Accidental Public Servant.” I couldn’t implicate innocent people in a crime I was implicated simply because my accusers promised me freedom.

Could it be that the bombing was organised to nail you and others?

I would not know but from what I read in the papers, the bombing was claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) who never make false claims of responsibility. I read that the bombing was a symbolic attack meant to counter the impression that the group no longer existed as was being propagated by Goodluck Jonathan and some ex-militants. The DSS and Jonathan strategists may have wanted to take advantage of that MEND attack minus the claim. After the bomb blast occurred, Elder Godsday Orubebe, and Mr. Tony Uranta contacted my brother (Henry Okah) in South Africa to use his influence to ask MEND to retract their statement which claimed responsibility so that, according to Uranta in a text message to Henry on October 1, 2010, the bombing could be blamed on ‘Northern elements’. The request was refused by Henry.

But the former President had during a PDP rally in Lagos accused your brother, Henry, of being hired by some persons to assassinate him. Were you also accused?

Yes they did after I refused to ‘cooperate’ with them. They said that the money I withdrew for the purchase of dollars for my son’s school fees came from the ‘sponsors’ of the bomb blast and insisted that the money was used to buy cars used in the bombing. It was after filing charges that they eventually traced the source of the money to a payment made into my Zenith Bank account by the British High Commission in Abuja through its defence attache. This payment which was made around September 2010; was for a contract awarded my company to install a floating dock for the Nigerian Navy at its Lagos Satellite Town Base. I wonder why they have not yet arrested the British High Commissioner and his US counterpart for alleged involvement the phantom plot.

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Administration Wanted Me To Implicate El-Rufai For My Freedom - Okah

October 1 bombing: Henry Okah ‘d have killed Jonathan, others; Amada confesses

Zion Amada is one of the three prosecution witnesses who testified at the South African court against Henry Okah, the man jailed for masterminding the October 1 Independence Day bombing that claimed no fewer than 12 lives in Abuja. Last week, Okah granted a national newspaper an extensive interview and described Amada as his driver who allowed himself to be used to frame him up in South Africa and denounced him for treachery.

But in this interview, Amada insists Okah actually detonated the bomb directly from his base in Johannesburg and was never framed by anyone.

Amada also says only the timely leakage of the wicked plot by Okah and his ilks by some patriotic Nigerians including himself saved President Jonathan and other top Nigerians from being killed at the Eagle Square on that fateful morning.

Tell us about how you came to know Henry Okah and what you knew about him

My name is Zion Amada. I was once the Secretary of Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. It was my childhood friend, Boyloaf who introduced me to Henry Okah during one of his visits to Nigeria in 2006. I had never met him before then.

After that meeting in 2006, Boyloaf called me and said that Henry said he liked my company and would be happy to be associated with me as I could be taking him around in my car any time he was in Nigeria. Then, I did not know that he was a gun runner. I just met him on the face value of meeting someone. Boyloaf further told me that Henry would be calling me and indeed, he used to call me. Once, when he called me, he asked me what I was doing for a living and I told him I was doing private business. At that time, I had not been given the appointment as the Secretary of my LGA.

So, we got talking and he said he liked me since I was from Bayelsa I was like his kid brother and that I could be assisting him whenever he was around. Sometime, he would ask me to take him around and go to the bank for him. I never knew that one day he would call me his servant. After a while, I started noticing this gun running tendency by Henry Okah. He was always talking about buying and selling guns and talking about killing. He showed signs that he was bloody and ready to kill at any time. Of course, that is not my back ground and I had to begin to withdraw from him.

Despite being tried and convicted by the South African court, Henry insists that he was merely framed by the Nigerian and South African governments. You want to respond to that?

He was not framed by anybody because the evidence before the court that sentenced him stated clearly that he was the mastermind of the October 1 bombing. When he was arrested for gun running in Angola, was he also framed by the Nigerian and South African governments?

Tell us more about that. Do you think that Henry was directly involved or merely brought into the picture because of his past deeds?

To the best of my knowledge, Henry Okah is the mastermind of the October 1 bombing at the Eagle Square.

Why do you say so?

I am saying so because before then, I had overheard him say more dangerous things than the bombing of the Eagle Square.

What did he say?

I overheard him say something like trying to overthrow the Government of Equatorial Guinea and others. In fact, one day he gave me money to go and give to somebody and when I returned, he asked whether I knew the person I had just met and I said no. He told me then that “if what we are planning succeeds the man you just met would be the next president of Equatorial Guinea”. I was surprised.

But in this particular instance, what evidence do you have to support the fact that Henry was directly involved in the planning and execution of the bombing of the Eagle Square?

Look, it would be an understatement to say that Henry Okah was involved in the October bombing. The truth is that he personally planned and implemented the terror act with some other elements. He did it. I know the kind of things Henry used to say about bombing Abuja before what happened. He had said it over and over before bombing Abuja. I was close to him and I know his disposition.

But one person cannot successfully plan and executive such an action?

That is why he had these people whose names had been given to the court. We cannot mention their names. It is one of the original persons who planned the attack with Henry Okah that leaked the plot to me. He had confirmed to me that Henry told him to drive one of the primed cars directly to the Eagle Square. When the information got to me, I called one of the boys to tell Sele, Boyloaf’s brother and ask whether he was aware that Henry Okah was planning to bomb the venue of the October 1 event. That was how Sele took the informant to Boyloaf.

It was when Boylaof heard directly from one of the guys who was originally involved in the plot that he alerted the security agencies, who immediately swung into action and restricted movement to and from the Eagle Square. Without that timely information that made the security agents to cordon off the venue, the casualty figure from the October 1 bombing would have been overwhelming.

That prevented Henry’s boys from driving directly into the venue. The information had been leaked two days before the event.  That was why when the president said recently in Lagos that Henry had planned to assassinate him, he was very correct because if his boys had succeeded in taking the bomb-rigged vehicles to Eagle Square, the damage would have been very devastating. It could have killed the president and other top government functionaries present.

But the President appears to have contradicted himself by claiming that the bombing was not done by Niger Delta militants. What do you make of that?

He said it was not done by MEND.

But is Henry Okah not a member of MEND?

Well, I am not a member of MEND and would not know. However, the Nation described him as the MEND leader and there are facts showing that Henry is the leader of MEND.

From your closeness to Okah, what do you think is Henry Okah’s grouse with President Jonathan?

Henry is a man who sells guns and he makes money whenever there is crisis. There are people who manufacture guns and if there is no crisis to propel sales, they go to certain places to instigate one in order to sell their arms.

They cannot just produce arms and stockpile for the sake of producing. Henry is of that school of thought. He was not actually agitating for the Niger Delta cause as he claimed but was in business and merely exploited the prevailing situation in the region to sell his arms for the purpose of making profit unknown to the genuine freedom fighters like Boyloaf. People like Boyloaf were genuinely concerned about the plight of the Niger Delta people.

It might be that Henry had the initial interest to work for the people but lost that altruistic focus along the line and went all out for profit-making in the name of the struggle. Look there is one point I want you to note about Henry Okah. He is smart but he is not clever. I am saying so because for him to say that he was framed up and that we were all paid by the government to bear false witness against shows that he is lying. He knows that all that we said was nothing but the truth.

Why were you invited to testify against him in South Africa and at what point did you withdraw from Henry Okah?

The truth is that I started withdrawing from Okah when somebody who was working with him had a nasty encounter with him. I went to see him that morning in a hotel in Port Harcourt and he started accusing me of something I never contemplated doing. From that point he started plotting how to eliminate me. He never trusted me. There was another incident in Port Harcourt when he was almost killed on the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway and the man who carried him in a motorcycle died on the spot.

But I managed to carry him in that unconscious state to a nearby clinic and he was revived. But less than two weeks after his recovery, he began to check my phones and plotted how to kill me.  That day he seized my phone and checked all the dialed numbers and said that if any of the suspected numbers had appeared on my phone that day it would have been my last on earth. That was what Henry told me and that was the man I had just saved his life two weeks earlier.     Because of his attempt on my life, I had to severe my relationship with him.

There is an oil company mentioned by Henry that it got an oil block in return for the Government framing and jailing him. Is there any truth in that?

That is a pure lie. When he wrote in the paper that Jonathan was a coward and a timid person, he would have mentioned my name and other witnesses that had the original plot with him. Don’t forget that he was jailed based on the evidence before the court. Let me tell you, when I gave my testimony in court, Henry’s lawyer could not ask me even one question. He requested for 30 minutes break and the judge obliged and when he returned he could still not cross examine me because he had nothing to challenge what I said.

What was the crux of your testimony against Henry?

Well the crux of my testimony was that one of those involved in the plot told me that Henry was planning to bomb the venue of the independence celebration in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The State Security Service agents, who carried out the investigation, were by all standards very thorough and I thank God that they saw my patriotism in the whole thing and believed me. If it were some other agencies that are not thorough in their work, they might have roped me into the plot and that would have been it. I did that based on my pledge to be faithful and loyal to Nigeria.

The security agents asked me why I told the governor of my state, and I told them I had to do so since he was the chief security officer of the state. I went to testify because of the anger in me. I did not want Nigeria to be destroyed by a band of people. Let me tell you that Henry personally detonated the bomb that rocked Eagle Square on that day from his base in South Africa. He was in control of the whole deadly exercise and no other person did it.

So, based on the information given by one of the masterminds to the security agents that he mentioned the plot to some persons including myself, I was invited to testify in South Africa and I did purely out of my patriotism for my country. They asked me what I did when I got the information and I told them I sent a text to my governor and the evidence was found on my phone to be intact.

When the boy also called me and told me that Henry said one of the wired cars had exploded I asked him to give me the number he used to call him from South Africa. I also forwarded it to the governor. I did not delete the numbers and the records from the service providers confirmed my testimony. They realised that throughout that year, nobody else called me from South Africa.

What about the things he said about President Jonathan that he is timid and coward? Could this be true based on your knowledge of the president?

The President is an educated man, a former lecturer with a PhD in one of the best universities in Nigeria. How do you describe such a man as unintelligent and timid? Henry was not framed because when he was arrested in Angola in 2007 Jonathan was the governor of Bayelsa State.

– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/october-1-bombing-henry-okah-d-have-killed-jonathan-other-amada-confesses/#stha

So, was it the president who framed him in Angola? Before this time, the former president of Angola Dos Santos had said that he reported in African Union meeting that Henry was a potential terrorist threat to the African sub-region. Was Jonathan in that meeting? So, you can see that Henry is just looking for some lies to tell in order to get undeserved sympathy from those who do not know him and his antecedents.

What if he is found to be innocent and freed by the South African Supreme Court that he had appealed to?

I don’t think he can be freed just like that. The evidence against him was so solid. As the judge was passing the verdict he made it clear that the testimonies by the various witnesses did not contradict themselves and as such they were overwhelming and that from Count One to 13, Henry was found guilty. This is part of the judgment that I quoted. Henry could not even mount the witness box; he could not defend himself in court even though he had a lawyer.

But don’t forget that the first lawyer had to withdraw from his case because he knew that he had a bad case. He is a reputable lawyer in South Africa and he had to go and bring one young boy to defend him instead. I described Henry as the father of modern day kidnapping in Nigeria. But the lawyer could not ask me any question and Henry was telling him what to do.

I know that the blood of those innocent persons who died will not be in vain. I am surprised that they did not jail him for life because of the enormity of the offence he committed.

What do you think of the Niger Delta struggle?

There is time for everything. Time has changed and there is no need to be killing people like animal. Shedding of blood cannot solve any problem in the Niger Delta. We still need to approach the negotiation table for solution at the end of the day. Of course, after all these years of killings and destruction, is it not the programme of the Amnesty that has brought about the peace we are enjoying today in the region? Is it not the programme that has brought about the peace?

Henry is not more Niger Delta than others. He is not even from an oil producing community. I am from Oloibiri where oil was first discovered in Nigeria and his community has no oil. He merely exploited the people for his personal gains and nothing more. He should surrender to God and be saved.

From all you have seen in the Niger Delta, what would you advise the youths to do?

My advice is that the people should not listen to characters like Henry Okah because he is like Pharaoh that has refused to hear the warning of God. God has saved him twice but he has refused to heed His warning.

Henry was first arrested in Angola and deported to Nigeria. He would have gone in Angola but God brought him back to Nigeria but refused to learn. He is acting like Pharaoh who refused to allow the children of Israel to go as God instructed. The only thing that Henry needs to do is to genuinely repent and accept Christ. I don’t think that he has done worse than Saint Paul in the Bible and there is still room for him to make amends with God so that his sins can be forgiven by the Almighty.

Have you had any interface with the people he described in the interview among them, Sele, Boyloaf’s brother, Asari Dokubo and Edwin Clark?

Let me start with Sele. He is a prince and with royal blood from Bayelsa State and was never Henry’s driver and can never be in this life. He has been a genuine struggling man. He cannot be Henry Okah’s driver.   If he had assisted Henry one day that does not make him his driver.

Henry is the same person who claims he is protecting the Niger Delta and insulting an elder like Edwin Clark. Do you think that God Almighty would allow such a person to go free?

I am not close to Asari so I would not be able to say anything about him. I cannot confirm if indeed what he said about Asari is true.  But let me tell you that whatever he said in the interview was not necessary.   Let me tell you that I am not a militants but a full Niger Delta son and I believe in the genuine struggle for emancipation of our people.

Do you think that Amnesty was necessary in the first place and that it has changed anything so far?

Of course, it was imperative and it has solved a lot of problems. Many of our people who were educated but not privileged to go to school have been able to go to elite schools at home and abroad. There are people who have been able to fly planes today courtesy of the Amnesty Programme. Amnesty has done very well but those criticising it can continue to do so.

But what the Amnesty programme has done to the Niger Delta is revolutionary and with time the results will reflect on the way of life of the people. For me, it has done so well for our people and the region.

The President is a gentleman.   Of course, I was not compromised to testify against him. I cannot bear false testimony against any fellow man.

 

October 1 bombing: Henry Okah ‘d have killed Jonathan, others; Amada confesses

MEND to Jonathan: Your assassination story not true

1

President Jonathan had said at a PDP rally in Lagos Thursday that MEND tried to assassinate him on two separate occasions, pointing out that the leader of the organisation, Henry Okah, now serving a jail term in South Africa, was paid to assassinate him in 2010.

President Goodluck Jonathan

This was even as an ex-militant general, Godsday Smith, alias Bouninawei (the god of the forest), yesterday, in Warri, Delta State, said there was no way ex-agitators in the Niger- Delta region would abandon President Goodluck Jonathan for General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), just as he maintained that Jonathan’s indictment of ex-militants on plot to kill him was hasty and uncalled  for, adding that there was no time ex-militants conspired against his government.

Smith asked Jonathan to be bold enough to confront the North which was planning his downfall using the Boko Haram insurgents.

However, MEND’s Spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said, “We challenge President Jonathan to come out and reveal to the nation the names of the persons he claimed paid Mr Henry Okah to assassinate him.

Goodluck Jonathan should also explain why these persons, as he obviously knows who they are, were not arrested, tried and convicted.”

In an electronic mail by  Gbomo, MEND said it was untrue that it planned to kill Mr President.

“MEND  views the President, Goodluck Jonathan’s recent campaign rally speech as the most outrageous and ridiculous speech by any President, where he openly accused Mr Henry Okah of being paid to assassinate him.”

“Mr President, the MEND says thank you for vindicating every word in our recent statement of endorsement of General Muhammadu Buhari and for also solidifying your status.”

“The MEND would like to state clearly that our endorsement of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential candidate, has absolutely nothing to do with Mr Henry Okah.

“Nigerians may recall that prior to the bomb blast of October 1, 2010; the MEND issued a warning of an impending attack on Eagle Square, Abuja , where we also advised the public to stay clear of any parked vehicles to avert any casualties.

These warnings were ignored by the Nigerian security agencies, hence the unfortunate and regrettable casualties

“If as Goodluck Jonathan claimed, that he was a target of an assassination attempt, why did we issue a prior warning?

Where in this world would an assassin warn their targets in advance of an attempt on their lives?

This allegation by Goodluck Jonathan, further confirms our earlier assertion of how he takes Nigerians as stupid as he seems to have forgotten how he openly came out to absolve MEND of any involvement in the attack.

“Rather than address his administration’s failures, he chose to descend so low by using a very cheap bare faced (method) to get sympathy. Is this the kind of President the country wants to be stuck with for another four years of misery?

“On the National Dialogue report, Goodluck Jonathan has finally resorted to cheap blackmail by urging the nation to vote for him as a condition to implementing the report. What a blatant insult!

Despite all the billions of Naira spent on that jamboree?

“At this point, the MEND urges the nation to use the power of their votes in securing this great country from the claws of Jonathan’s corrupt and inept government and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.”

Also in his reaction to Jonathan’s allegation, an ex-militant general, Godsday Smith, said there was no way ex-agitators in the Niger-Delta region would abandon President Goodluck Jonathan for General Buhari, just as he stressed that there was no time ex-militants conspired against his government.

He told Saturday Vanguard on phone in Warri that the controversial endor-sement of All Progre-ssives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, by the non-operational Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, was a manipulation by the party.

Though, he rebutted the claim by President Goodluck Jonathan that MEND plotted to kill him he stated, “Jonathan is our son, there is no way ex-agitators of Niger Delta will support Buhari against their son, President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general elections.”

His words: “The APC manipulated the purported online statement with the name of MEND to boost their dying camp and I want to say that such treachery should stop forthwith.

“There was no time MEND issued any press statement against President Ebele Jonathan, the purported online statement was manipulated by APC and I use this medium to urge the general public and their numerous supporters to disregard such as unfounded.”

He stressed that ex-militants and the entire Niger Delta region had confidence in Jonathan and had passed a vote of confidence on him.

 

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Viewed 1 times
MEND to Jonathan: Your assassination story not true

FG seeks accelerated trial of Charles Okah

Vanguard- The Federal Government, yesterday, applied for an accelerated trial of the alleged mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bomb blast that killed twelve persons at the Eagle Square in Abuja, Mr. Charles Okah.

Charles, who is a younger brother to ex-leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Mr. Henry Okah, who had since been convicted by a South African Court, is facing terrorism charges alongside one Obi Nwabueze.

FG made the application after it denied an allegation by the accused person that a medication called Epilim Sodium Valproate (ESV), which is meant for epilepsy, was forcefully administered on him at the Kuje Prisons where he was remanded in by the court.

Consequently, the prosecuting counsel, Dr. Alex Iziyon, SAN, opposed Okah’s request that a private medical practitioner be allowed to examine him with a view to producing a medical report on the side effect of the said epilepsy drug on him.

“My Lord, the accused person is bent on frustrating this trial. His fresh application to be evaluated by an independent medical practitioner is very frivolous and wasteful of the precious time of this court. The state is irritated by this application.

“It is a clear ploy by the accused person to further delay this matter after four years. Justice is three-way traffic and my Lord should consider the interest of the larger society. People lost their dear ones in that explosion which led to the instant death of four children who came to watch the Independence Day celebration.

“They are certainly crying out for justice, this is why we want this trial to be expedited. This is a matter of serious nature that involves treason”, Iziyon added.

FG equally maintained that Okah who is currently confined to a wheel chair, is mentally fit to stand his trial, “he doesn’t need to stand in the dock. He can be tried in his wheel chair, after all former Egyptian president was brought to court in a cage and tried on a bed,” the government lawyer argued.

Besides, FG told the court that the exhibit Okah relied on to allege that he was given an epilepsy medication was produced in January, saying there was nothing to show that the drug was still being administered on him.

“We do not agree that the drug was even given to him. The document was cooked up to whip-up sentiment of this court”, Iziyon insisted.

He said FG has the liberty to transfer Okah to a mental home should he maintain that he is not mentally fit.

Meanwhile, Okah’s lawyer, Mr. John Anieto, yesterday, urged the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole to look at the entire circumstances of the case impartially and without sentiment to public opinion.

Contending that the National Hospital which initially tendered a medical report on Okah is an agent of the federal government, Anieto, said his client’s family had volunteered to bear the cost of the proposed independent medical evaluation.

Before adjourning the matter to June 9 for ruling, trial Justice Kolawole, said the court would have no option than to suspend the proceeding should it be ascertained that the accused person is not fit to stand trial.

Likewise, the Appeal Court in Abuja has fixed September 16 to commence hearing on an appeal that was lodged before it by Okah.

It will be recalled that one of the alleged masterminds of that bombing, Mr. Osvwo Tekemfa Francis, a.k.a ‘General-Gbokos’, died in prison custody, even as the high court in a separate judgment, jailed the 3rd accused person, Edmund Ebiware, to life imprisonment.

Specifically, Charles and Nwabueze were said to have superintended over varying terrorist activities that hitherto took place within the oil rich Niger Delta region of the country, including the bomb explosion that rocked a post amnesty programme that was organised by Vanguard Newspaper in Warri, Delta State.

FG alleged that they endangered the life of President Goodluck Jonathan while Nigeria celebrated its 50th independence anniversary in Abuja.

Apart from a one-count charge with 22-particulars of overt acts of treason instituted against them, FG,\ alleged that they conspired with Henry Okah and one Emmanuel Allison to make a direct attempt to endanger the life of President Jonathan by seeking to drive two motor vehicles wired with time-regulated explosive devices to the Eagle Square where the Independence celebration was taking place.

FG also alleged that the accused persons between January 2 and March 15, 2010, within Port-Harcourt Rivers State and diverse places, conspired with Henry Okah, Chima Orlu, at large, and persons unknown, to make a direct attempt to endanger the lives of the Governor of Delta state, Edo state and Imo state by seeking to drive two motors vehicles wired with time regulated explosive devices into government house annex, Warri, Delta State, the venue of the Vanguard Post Amnesty Dialogue, where the said governors were in attendance, in order to cause a bomb blast for the purpose of levying war against the state.

It added that a man lost his life because of that explosion.

Charles was said to have among other offences, engaged the services of one Bassey Umoren, a welder, and paid him N50, 000, to construct hidden compartments into four motor cars, two of which were subsequently loaded with explosive devices at Port-Harcourt by Obi Nwabueze and Chima Orlu, at large, and positioned on 1st October at 0830 hours near the venue of the anniversary for the purpose of levying war against the state.

He was accused of sending two consignments of army camouflage torches, bullet proof vests and boots to Allison for onward transmission to one Segun Llori alias Stone face, at large, for use by terrorists recruited by Henry Okah in the creeks of Niger Delta.

FG seeks accelerated trial of Charles Okah