The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced Mr. Charles Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bomb blast that left twelve persons dead at the Eagle Square in Abuja, to life imprisonment.
The court, in a judgment that lasted over fives hours,
equally found Okah’s alleged accomplice, Mr. Obi Nwabueze, guilty and also
handed him a life sentence.
Trial Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that oral and
documentary evidence the Federal Government tendered before the court,
connected the defendants to the October 1, 2010, bomb blast. He held that the
prosecution proved the terrorism charge against the defendants beyond every
reasonable doubt. The court said their was evidence that convicted former
leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Mr. Henry
Okah, released funds the defendants used to purchase cars that were used to
detonate bombs in Delta State on March 15 and in Abuja on October 1, 2010.
While the court noted that two out of six cars that Henry ordered to be
purchased, a Mazda 626 and a Honda Hala, were wired with dynamites and deployed
to the Eagle Square in Abuja, it stressed that evidence revealed that one of
the cars was used for the bomb explosion that rocked a post amnesty programme
that was organised by Vanguard Newspaper in Warri, Delta State. It found
Charles who is younger brother to the ex-MEND leader and Nwabueze, guilty on
five out of the eight count charges FG entered against them.
Justice Kolawole maintained that the defendants failed to
convince the court through credible evidence, that they were not involved in
the acts of terrorism they were charged with. He said the defendants could not
validly explain what the sums of N1.2million and N2million that Henry released
to them in 2010, was used for. It will be recalled that one of the alleged
planners of the bomb attack that marred Nigeria’s fiftieth anniversary, Mr.
Osvwo Tekemfa Francis, a.k.a ‘General-Gbokos’, died in prison custody, while
the court, in a separate trial, jailed the 3rd accused person, Edmund Ebiware,
to life imprisonment in 2013. All the defendants were initially arraigned
before the High Court on December 7, 2010 and subsequently re-arraigned on
January 12, 2011, on charges predicated on section 15 (1) and (2) of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Act, attracts life imprisonment upon
conviction. The Federal Government had in an 8-count terrorism charge marked
FHC/ CR/186/2010, insisted that it was Charles that mobilised the other
defendants. Whereas the Okah brothers were alleged to have coordinated as well
as procured all the materials that were used for the attack, FG, told the court
that it was the 2nd defendant, Nwabueze, that helped them to fix Improvised
Explosive Devices, IEDs, in two cars it said were used for the bombing. In his
judgment, Justice Kolawole held that evidence before the court showed that the
2nd defendant, Nwabueze, made himself available as a foot-soldier to be used
for evil errands that earned him monetary rewards. The court observed that
Nwabueze had in his confessional statement that was entered into evidence as
Exhibit 2D1 to D9, admitted that he was contracted to construct special
compartments in the cars where the IEDs were fixed. Meanwhile, before the
sentence was passed, the defence lawyers, Mr. Emeka Okafor and Oghenovo Otemu,
pleaded the court to temper justice with mercy. They urged the court to
consider that their clients had no previous criminal records, adding that they
have been in prison custody for over eight years.
Okah told the court that he has an aged mother and kids that
depended on him for survival. Relying on section 311 and 401 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Okah, prayed the court to mitigate his
sentence, vowing not to engage in any form of criminality again. However,
government lawyer, Dr. Alex Iziyon, SAN, asked the court to impose the full
sanction that was provided by the law, insisting that conduct of the defendants
during the trial was enough to deny them any form of favourable discretion from
the court. He insisted that family of the victims deserved justice, adding that
imposing the full sentence would serve as deterrant to other militants. After
he had listened to all the parties, Justice Kolawole said he had to place the
section under which the defendants were charged, above every other
consideration. He said the court would be seen as acting capriciously, if it
impose lighter sentence on Okah and Nwabueze after their co-accused, Ebiware
got life imprisonment over the same allegation. He ordered that all the
military kit that were seized from the defendants should be handed over to the
Director General of the DSS. The court had on January 6, 2017, dismissed a
no-case submission that was filed by the defendants. The defendants had pleaded
the court to discharge and acquit them on the premise that FG failed to by way
of credible evidence, prove that they were involved in the bombing incident.
They argued that the prosecution failed to either establish a nexus between
them and the alleged act of terrorism, or a prima-facie criminal case capable
of securing their conviction by the court. FG had in the course of the trial,
called a total of 17 witnesses that testified before the court, while Okah and
Nwabueze, who earlier denied the charge against them, called three witnesses
each to establish their innocence. The prosecuting counsel had on February 21
when he adopted his final brief of argument, maintained that the proof of
evidence before the court was sufficient to secure the conviction of the
defendants.
FG urged the court to dismiss the defendants’ plea of
innocence, alleging that N2m was paid to the 2nd defendant on September 13,
2010, through a firm, Tombra Life Support Company Ltd, belonging to Charles,
for the purchase of cars that were used for the Abuja bombing. It told the
court that Henry bought the two cars and parked them at his younger brother’s
(1st defendant) house where the 2nd defendant was called to construct secret
compartments in them. FG alleged that between September 28 and 30, 2010, the
defendants, loaded the cars with dynamites. It alleged that while two of the
cars were brought to Abuja the other was taken to Port Harcourt and subsequently
abandoned after it developed mechanical fault. Besides, FG brought a welder it
said was engaged to construct secret compartments in the cars at Okah’s house
in Apapa, Lagos, to testify as the second prosecution witness, PW-2. The court
had earlier struck out a second charge marked FHC/ CR/187/2010, wherein FG
accused the defendants of committing treasonable felony punishable with death.
In the charge, FG, alleged that the defendants endangered the life of
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan while Nigeria celebrated its 50th independence
anniversary in Abuja.
FG alleged that it was the defendants that 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. It alleged that the duo conspired with Henry who is currently serving a
prison term in South Africa, and one Emmanuel Allison to make a direct attempt
to endanger the life of ex-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. The trial court however dismissed the second
charge after it held that FG failed to prove that the defendants attempted to
kill ex-President Jonathan or that he was intimidated or over-hedged in anyway
by the twin blast that occurred during the independence day celebration.
According to Justice Kolawole, there was no evidence that the 50th independence
anniversary ended abruptly or that the ex-President was ferried to safety by
his guards. The Judge held that FG ought to have produced some of the security
guards or even the ex-President himself to testify before the court.
Breaking News: Court sentences Charles Okah, Nwabueze to life imprisonment for Oct 1 bombing
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Wednesday, March 07, 2018
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