The former leader of a Niger Delta militant group, Henry Okah, has reportedly claimed he was arrested and charged in South Africa because he refused to cooperate in a plan to blame northerners for last Friday’s Abuja bombings.
The English news website of the Doha-based broadcaster, Al Jazeera, reported on Tuesday that Okah told the channel:
“On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President [Goodluck] Jonathan called me and explained to me that there had been a bombing in Nigeria and that President Jonathan wanted me to reach out to the group, MEND [the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta], and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks.”
Okah added: “They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him [Jonathan] to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government.”
He told Al Jazeera that he declined to do as he was asked, and was arrested a few hours later. “It was based on their belief that I was going to do that [put pressure on MEND] that Jonathan issued a statement saying that Mend did not carry out the attack.”
Okah appeared in court in Johannesburg on Monday, charged with engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activity, and delivering, placing and detonating an explosive device.
Source: AllAfrica.com
President jonathan, you should take note of this’ you will also die one day.It was a very bad ideal to persuade okah to blame the northern for the bomb blast.
That is not the way to defeat the north. You better do the right things. If God said you are going to win, you will win, but not by try to criticise the other part of country,that is a very big mistake. Take note”
Then u mohammed shot up ur mouth. how do know that Jonathan did this actually? what evidence has this Okay of a person given to prove his claims?, why didn’t he ask the person that called him his name?. All these questions are wat u should av first ask ur self before condemning an innocent man.
I know that this is wat the antagonists has planned because they know that they can not fight or win Jonathan, but they are bound to fail, they are just raising dust. He who God has ordained know 1 can but him down, so if they like let them go and higher more Niger Deltans 2 accuse Jonathan they are even making him more famous and palatable to the people because even the rat under my bed knows that General HI BP and co. are the master-minders of this heinous plans, and i reiterate THEY ARE BOUND TO FAIL. AMEN
I strongly believe that these bomb attacks were not carried by the MEND but politically motivated. am only very sorry for the innocent lives that were lost
I ALSO FILL PAINS FOR THE FAMILY OF THE DECEASED, BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT THE BLAST ATTACK WAS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED.
What am saying is that goodluck must be the president of nigeria
U don’t say jonathan muuuusst win. Do you people ever think there is a God and He controls the spiritual arena?. I always tell people that nigeria represents israel. What happened to the biblical jonathan is about to happen. Jonathan deeply within himself knows this. Why should jonathan pass such judgments capable of causing disharmony among nigerians? That is never a feature of a good leader. Goodluck is a wish and so needs patience just as is his wife’s name. He had a good share of the spiritual arena but this time impatience has made him gonna fail. My vote was always for him but i have long taken it back for buhari.