Okah confirms in a telephone interview on Aljazeera now that GEJ's camp called him to ask him to come out openly and revert the MEND claims, and also direct the blame to the north. He says Niger Delta was better of under Yaradua than Jonathan. Live now on Aljazeera, Stay tuned

The former leader of Nigeria's armed group has said he was arrested because he refused to tell the group to retract a statement claiming responsibility for last week's deadly attacks in the capital, Abuja.

Henry Okah, currently being held in jail in South Africa, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that he received a phone call from a "close associate" of Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, telling him to urge the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) to withdraw its claim for the bombings, which killed at least 10 people and left 36 others injured on the 50th anniversay of Nigeria's independence.

"On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President 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, and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks," Okah said.

"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.

"I declined to do this and a few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that Jonathan issued a statement saying that Mend did not carry out the attack."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/10/2010105115843516850.html

jabbok:

Okah confirms in a telephone interview on Aljazeera now that GEJ's camp called him to ask him to come out openly and revert the MEND claims, and also direct the blame to the north. He says Niger Delta was better of under Yaradua than Jonathan. Live now on Aljazeera, Stay tuned

And I guess we are suppose to believe that his words are true when being interviewed my a pro-muslim news station?

jabbok:

Okah confirms in a telephone interview on Aljazeera now that GEJ's camp called him to ask him to come out openly and revert the MEND claims, and also direct the blame to the north. He says Niger Delta was better of under Yaradua than Jonathan. Live now on Aljazeera, Stay tuned

Nigeria needs a good leader irrespective of where he is from.
I hope GEJ has not shot himslef in the foot when the picture becomes clearer.

Was he speaking from the court?
cos i know he went to court today.

jodeci:

Was he speaking from the court?
cos i know he went to court today.

SA no be Naija. He even said it in the interview, that the fact they(Aljazeera) were able to reach him on the phone shows that SA is truly a democratic country. He compared it to Naija, where he was incacerated for months without any proof

OKAH is entitled to his own opinion which may or may not reflect the views of MEND or the people of the Niger Delta. He and his family in any case reside in South Africa so how can they say the people of the Niger Delta are worse of now.

chyz:

And I guess we are suppose to believe that his words are true when being interviewed my a pro-muslim news station?

SO YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED AS THEY DID NOT TELL US IS DOKPESI OR IBB?
see what poverty has done to my pple
bringing religion into politics.
if na your bros that were affected by the blast, you no go de talk like this

@Op
Answer this question first. Has Okah then taken responsibility for the bombings? Becuase the only premise for this claim is that he is agreeing that he actually ordered the bombings becuase the ND is not benefiting from GEJ'S presidency.

Militants lie, rebels has implicating stories made up to tell.

Stories are sold and bought.

We are equal to the task associated with leadership.

In Okah's own words, He was called to get in touch with MEND to compel them to retract their earlier statement claiming responsibilty for the twin bombing.

And the request went further to ask him to implicate political opponents of Jonathan. Stay tunned more in print soon

na_so:

@Op
Answer this question first. Has Okah then taken responsibility for the bombings? Becuase the only premise for this claim is that he is agreeing that he actually ordered the bombings becuase the ND is not benefiting from GEJ'S presidency.

i dont have time for pple that think with thier mouth
for GEJ to say MEND is not responsible for the attack barely 18hrs after the attack,
and MEND claiming responsibility, make good and reasonable people wander
WHAT MANNER OF PRESIDENT IS THIS

opuro:

SO YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED AS THEY DID NOT TELL US IS DOKPESI OR IBB?
see what poverty has done to my pple
bringing religion into politics.
if na your bros that were affected by the blast, you no go de talk like this

Obviously its a lie. and the funny thing is Al-jazeera happened to make a fake interview video with "MEND" two days before the bombing. I dont know about you but that is too much of a coincidence to me.

jabbok:

In Okah's own words, He was called to get in touch with MEND to compel them to retract their earlier statement claiming responsibilty for the twin bombing.

And the request went further to ask him to implicate political opponents of Jonathan. Stay tunned more in print soon

An Ex military Generals brain at work in Okah.

They are acting out this American movie , "Most Wanted"

do we all remember the fake BBC video abi call with Yar Adua?

na_so:

@Op
Answer this question first. Has Okah then taken responsibility for the bombings? Becuase the only premise for this claim is that he is agreeing that he actually ordered the bombings becuase the ND is not benefiting from GEJ'S presidency.

Wrong. I have just listened to Okah speaking on Aljazeera. Okah makes it clear that Jonathan called him and appealed for him to reach out to MEND and get them to retract their claim of being responsible for the bombing. He claims that Jonathan further demanded that the blame be put on the North to cement the implication that the region is willing to do anything to gain power at all cost. We don't know who is right or wrong but we can all agree that Jonathan has handled this really badly. He is losing the propaganda battle. With Okah granting interviews in detention , and sounding defiant and resolutely implicating Jonathan, I am almost sure even the South Africans are not interested in doing Jonathan's bidding.

opuro:

i dont have time for pple that think with thier mouth
for GEJ to say MEND is not responsible for the attack barely 18hrs after the attack,
and MEND claiming responsibility, make good and reasonable people wander
WHAT MANNER OF PRESIDENT IS THIS

If you lack answers, just keep quiet. Dont resort to insults , it does not make you smarter. Just answer my simple question. Has Henry okah agreed that he was part of the plot?

That one statement has killed Jonathan severely.

At this stage we don't know where to draw the line between reason and propaganda. But one thing is certain, Jonathan started this if-you-talk-finish I go talk my own style. Very unpresidential. Coming out hours after the bombing to absolve MEND is certainly unpresidential

Gbawe:

Wrong. I have just listened to Okah speaking on Aljazeera. Okah makes it clear that Jonathan called him and appealed for him to reach out to MEND and get them to retract their claim of being responsible for the bombing. He claims that Jonathan further demanded that the blame be put on the North to cement the implication that the region is willing to do anything to gain power at all cost. We don't know who is right or wrong but we can all agree that Jonathan has handled this really badly. He is losing the propaganda battle. With Okah granting interviews in detention , and sounding defiant and resolutely implicating Jonathan, I am almost sure even the South Africans are not interested in doing Jonathan's bidding.  

Jonathan couldn't have contacted this your Okah of a man by himself, knowing the polilitical implications or the jeopardy it can cause if a tout/criminal like this begins to spew out infos.

jonathan is showin himself to be quite dense upstairs.if he has to play dirty,why not be smart bout it?to think we had hope in this man.

Care-Taker:


Jonathan couldn't have contacted this your Okah of a man by himself, knowing the polilitical implications or the jeopardy it can cause if a tout/criminal like this begins to spew out infos.

Are you assuming this?. . or you are definitely sure?

Care-Taker:


Jonathan couldn't have contacted this your Okah of a man by himself, knowing the polilitical implications or the jeopardy it can cause if a tout/criminal like this begins to spew out infos.

You sound so sure like Okah cannot lie and frame up GEJ.

Have u forgotten that Okah has a criminal history,more exposed criminally than Jonathan.

Care-Taker:


Jonathan couldn't have contacted this your Okah of a man by himself, knowing the polilitical implications or the jeopardy it can cause if a tout/criminal like this begins to spew out infos.

Gbam!!

Especially when all eyes and ears are already on Okah.

na_so:

If you lack answers, just keep quiet. Dont resort to insults , it does not make you smarter. Just answer my simple question. Has Henry okah agreed that he was part of the plot?

and I repeat that Okah's claim is not predicated on a need to admit guilt or involvement before it is seen as credible. We all know he is a former leader of MEND. I have listened to the interview . Okah claims that the President wanted him to use his influence ,within a group he once headed, to reach out to active members of MEND and convince them to retract their admission of culpability for the bombing. Na-so, even you can see that this makes sense given how quickly and prematurely Jonathan came out to say that this is not the work of MEND.

This whole thing is being escalated unnecessarily hopefully the new NSA should be able to get a grip of things.

Gbawe:

and I repeat that Okah's claim is not predicated on a need to admit guilt or involvement before it is seen as credible. We all know he is a former leader of MEND. I have listened to the interview . Okah claims that the President wanted him to use his influence ,within a group he once headed, to reach out to active members of MEND and convince them to retract their admission of culpability for the bombing. Na-so, even you can see that this makes sense given how quickly and prematurely Jonathan came out to say that this is not the work of MEND.

Very succinct brother. We still get men here

Gbawe:

and I repeat that Okah's claim is not predicated on a need to admit guilt or involvement before it is seen as credible. We all know he is a former leader of MEND. I have listened to the interview . Okah claims that the President wanted him to use his influence ,within a group he once headed, to reach out to active members of MEND and convince them to retract their admission of culpability for the bombing. Na-so, even you can see that this makes sense given how quickly and prematurely Jonathan came out to say that this is not the work of MEND.

If GEj asked him to put the blame on the north, why will he then be arresting Dokpesi (a southerner) declare Ben Jessy and Chima Orlu ( two sotherners) wanted.

If Jonathan wanted it to look like what the north did, he will be implicating more northerners than southerners.

Believe a crook like Okah at your own peril

This is the more reason to beleive that IBB/DOKPESI is behind the bomb blast.It is unfortunate that some people cant just read between the lines. Okah is simply saying what he has been paid to say.

seunmsg:

This is the more reason to beleive that IBB/DOKPESI is behind the bomb blast.It is unfortunate that some people cant just read between the lines. Okah is simply saying what he has been paid to say.

EXACTLY!!!

its very sure that the poster of this article is a political jobber of IBB, how on earth will you post such a sensitive issue like that and refuse to give a link. We all know IBB, a leopard can not change his skin, its not possible, IBB should just stay out of 2011 or else we will start asking questions about $12.5 billion Gulf oil, Dele Giwa, June 12 and Ejigbo. We all know that the use of Bombs in Nigeria Only occurred during IBB regime, Dele Giwa and Ejigbo Bombing of Brilliant and Young Military officers who are more intelligent and productive than the owanbe IBB are begging questions IBB has refused to answer. If not that we are in a Banana republic, do you think IBB will be talking of Enjoying Democracy after Denying Nigerians the same Democracy. By now IBB should be struggling of getting out of JAIL. I am very sure he knows something about the Bomb blast or who else knows how to use Parcel Bombs than IBB? its better for him to enjoy his looted funds at his Hilltop mansion rather than seeking to Rule us again. We are no fools.

I Only feel for GEJ caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea.

he is the most criminally naive amongst them.

violent:

Are you assuming this?. . or you are definitely sure?

Its my reasonable assumption actually.

Gbawe:

and I repeat that Okah's claim is not predicated on a need to admit guilt or involvement before it is seen as credible. We all know he is a former leader of MEND. I have listened to the interview . Okah claims that the President wanted him to use his influence ,within a group he once headed, to reach out to active members of MEND and convince them to retract their admission of culpability for the bombing. Na-so, even you can see that this makes sense given how quickly and prematurely Jonathan came out to say that this is not the work of MEND.

Wait until you are reliably told that [b]somebody impersonated the president [/b]and made that call.
I am beginning to enjoy this, its like in a movie.

Its a well planned foul play, well masterminded but we will unravel it all.