Ex-Rebel leader calls Nigeria blasts case 'Ludicrous'

Henry Okah, the former rebel group leader accused of masterminding Nigeria’s deadly Independence Day blasts, says he is the victim of a conspiracy and called the case against him "ludicrous".

Okah, the ex-leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which claimed responsibility for the twin car bombings, was arrested at his home in Johannesburg on October 2, the day after the blasts killed 12 people.

South African police say Okah played a leading role in the attacks, acting under the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo — the name signed to MEND’s statement claiming responsibility for the bombings, and to another statement released Friday saying a fresh attack was imminent.

“That’s ludicrous,” Okah, 45, told AFP by telephone from a Johannesburg prison on Sunday.

“If I was leading militant activities I wouldn’t be here in South Africa, I should be there on the ground with them,” he said.

“You can’t lead operations by phone. It’s impossible. I would have been there with them. But of course I’m not doing that. I’m more like a political leader of our struggle.

“I’m a voice that the people listen to. The real fighters in the Niger Delta listen to my voice.” Okah said he sympathises with those fighting to change the distribution of oil revenue in the Delta, the restive heart of Nigeria’s oil industry.

But he denied involvement in the blasts, saying his arrest on “terrorism” charges was part of a political plot by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, a native of the Delta, to discredit his opponents ahead of elections next year.

“It is about these elections and the Nigerian government’s belief that I’m working on the side of the opposition,” he said.

Okah says he received a text message from one of Jonathan’s advisors after the blasts asking him to have MEND retract its claim of responsibility for the attacks.

He claims the government planned to place the blame on the president’s political rivals from the country’s predominantly Muslim north.

“The president doesn’t want it to seem that his government is being fought against by people from his place,” he said.

MEND on Friday said Okah was a victim of “witch-hunting” by the Nigerian government, and threatened to carry out a fresh attack that would prove he was not involved.

Speaking two days after the warning, Okah said he did not believe in violence as a means to resolve the conflict in the Delta.

“Nothing is achieved except through dialogue. I don’t see violence as a means towards getting the crisis in the Delta resolved. Those who practice violence I believe are just simply trying to draw attention to themselves,” he said.

Okah said he feared Nigeria’s government could try to have him assassinated in prison. He said he had been refusing food for fear it could be poisoned.

“I fear for my life,” he said.

I’m not eating. I’ve never eaten. Sometimes I don’t eat for like two days, sometimes three days. I eat biscuits when I get them.” Three years ago, Okah was arrested in Angola and transferred to Nigerian custody.

He moved to Johannesburg after being released as part of an amnesty programme offered to militants in the Delta.

Okah has been in South African custody since his arrest. His bail hearing began last week and is set to continue Monday.