MEND, Okah Kick as South African Court Dismisses Appeal

 

The leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Henry Okah and the militant group on Wednesday rejected the recent dismissal of Okah’s appeals by the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Okah, who is facing terrorism charges following the 2010 Nigeria's Independence Day attacks that killed 12 people, said in a statement that he had directed his lawyers to file a fresh appeal at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Constitutional Court of South Africa had in 2013 convicted Okah of 13 charges of terrorism, including bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

In a letter written from Kokstad Prison, Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, Okah rejected the ruling of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, saying the ruling ignored pertinent questions raised by his lawyers.

Okah added that his lawyers are in complete agreement with his position on the ruling by South Africa's highest court in this matter.

“The situation in the Niger Delta is a conflict as defined by International Human Law (IHL), the internationally accepted body of legislation for adjudicating conflict situations. Therefore, prosecuting a party to a conflict in a foreign country under the South African Anti-Terrorism Act, where the same statute is inapplicable to other parties to that same conflict is, in my opinion, illogical, and in fact, absurd,” Okah said.

“It is therefore little wonder that in my sentencing, the trial judge alluded to Mr.Nelson Mandela and the leaders of the Africa National Congress (ANC) as terrorists in their prosecution of the South African armed struggle against Apartheid. The South African armed struggle against Apartheid and that undertaken by MEND are not dissimilar in substance,” Okah said.

“Even more shocking and without outcry is the continued imprisonment as common criminals in South African prisons of soldiers for liberation armies, who had been captured by the Apartheid government almost a quarter of a century after 'independence' in South Africa. Freedom fighters in South Africa are regarded in South African law as terrorists despite the victory against Apartheid having ostensibly been attained through violent means,” he added.

The MEND leader alleged that the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan had bribed the former president of South Africa, Mr. Jacob Zuma to keep in prison.

"Goodluck Jonathan sneaked into South Africa about three weeks ago where he desperately pleaded with Mr Zuma just before he was 'recalled' by the ANC, to ensure my continued internment in this country at any cost,” he said.

“Every Nigerian is aware that I am imprisoned in South Africa at the insistence of the Nigerian government in cahoots with western nations plundering the resources of the Niger Delta. MTN Nigeria was instrumental in my capture in 2010 and for this, some personalities in South Africa were rewarded with oil blocks jn the Escravos area, which are presently operated by a South African registered company named SACOIL,” Okah alleged.

According to the MEND leader, MTN South Africa also provided a witness who testified falsely at him trial, using fabricated evidence.

In a separate statement by its spokesman, Mr. Jomo Gbomo, MEND said it was disappointed but not surprised at the absurd verdict of the South Africa Constitutional Court, in the Appeal of Henry Okah versus The State on February 23, 2018.

 

“Considering that corruption and compromise is practiced at the highest level of government and eaten deep into the fabric of the South African political and justice system it didn't therefore come as a complete surprise. On account of oil in the Niger Delta region and the connivance of the oil majors and traitors within, the international community continues to turn a blind eye to this miscarriage of justice throughout the different tiers of the courts. We ask our patriotic comrades to remain calm as this matter is far from over. We are glad to hear that Henry Okah remains completely unfazed by the Constitutional Court's ruling,” MEND’s spokesman explained.