Nigeria: Federal High Court rules against a submissions made by Charles Okah and other suspects on the October bombings
By Correspondent Chinyere Ogbonna – The Federal High Court in Abuja, the Nigerian Capital has ruled against a submission made by Charles Okah and other suspects in the case of the October 1, 2010 car bombings which killed twelve people.
Mr. Okah and other accused persons had made a submission for the case to be dropped due to lack of evidence.
After listening to the prosecution and defence counsels, the judge rejected the submission and went ahead to fix October 11, 2011 for the commencement of the hearing. Counsel to the accused, Mr.Festus Keyamo said he was not satisfied with the decision.
“Well, we are officers of the court as lawyers and so we respect the rulings of the court. We give them, give the judge his due regard but we disagree entirely with the reasoning behind the decision, and we are going to confer with our clients and decide on the next line of action. For example, our position continues to remain that you cannot use the same proof of evidence and split charges to two different charges entirely before the same court and before the same judge. It is an abuse of the process of court and an attempt to harass and annoy the accused persons, which is of course an abuse of the process of court, and so we stand our ground and we are going to pursue it to the highest level,” Keyamo said.
The accused with Mr.Okah are Obi Nwabueze, Mr.Edmund Ebiware and Mr.Tiemkemfa Francis Osvwo. Mr. Okah and the other accused will remain in custody until the hearing commences.
The accused were arrested by officers of the State Security Service, SSS after two explosions hit the capital territory, Abuja on October 1, 2010, during Nigeria’s 50th Independence celebration near a parade attended by Jonathan and other top government functionaries.
Those on trial are members of a group known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
Mr. Charles Okah’s brother, Henry Okah who is alleged to be the leader of the group is currently facing a separate trial in South Africa.
The October 1 blasts came an hour after MEND, issued an email warning saying it had planted several bombs and telling people to evacuate the area.
MEND, which has been fighting for years for a greater share of oil revenues from the impoverished Niger Delta, home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, later claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The accused are facing trial for treason and terrorism.
