Mobinga:

Henry Okah is not as dumb as the transcript portrays him to be.

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]Transcript Of Henry Okah's Interview On Al Jazeera[/size]

Henry Okah: 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.

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 few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that President Jonathan issued a statement claiming that MEND didn't carry out the attack because they were expecting a kind of retraction from the group


Aljazeera: So just to be clear, why do you think that political aide was asking you to ask MEND to make that retraction? What was the reason for that?

Henry Okah: They don't want it to seem as if Jonathan does not have the support of his people, you understand? For months now they have been lying to everybody that everybody is so pleased with Jonathan, that he is going to bring peace to the region which is entirely false.

This attack now was actually going to be a great smear on his aspiration. They just needed the group to retract that statement which was why I was contacted. But I declined to make any such move.


Aljazeera: As far as MEND is concerned, what is the situation with MEND, because Goodluck Jonathan is trying to say that this group is not a problem anymore; the previous president had tried amnesty and rehabilitation programmes, can you give us a summary of what the situation is with MEND?


Not just with MEND, with everybody who is fighting and to whichever way they are fighting. You don't just give people an amnesty and ask them to forget about the reason why they are fighting. Every one of us is fighting for something and if what we are fighting for is not addressed, it ushers problem in the area. You understand. It is not about Jonathan being president or about an amnesty being given. I mean, why will you steal my land and you give me an amnesty and then you expect me not to continue fighting you? Why would that happen?


Aljazeera: Are you saying none of these concerns you have are been addressed by the government?


Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.


Aljazeera: So Henry what do you think is going to happen to you now?


I don't care, I really couldn't care. But one thing I tell you for sure, is just like I was able to talk to you, it only shows that South Africa is not like Nigeria. In Nigeria I was held for one year and four months in solitary confinement. I didn't kill anybody, I had no books, no newspapers, no TV, no radio, not even electrified. But the fact that I can speak to you on phone, even though I am being detained, shows that I am in an entirely different country from Nigeria.

And I am arrested here at the instance of Nigeria, which threatened the South African government with diplomatic action if they didn't arrest me. That is the only reason why I am in detention. All those people I learnt have been arrested in Nigeria I have no contact with any of them, I don't even know them.

They are just trying to do this thing, to point the finger at other political opponents in order to scuttle their attempts at being president. But as you see I am not a politician and I have no any business with any of the other aspirants for the posts of president in Nigeria. I have no connection with them. The story that I have been given a lot of money by different politicians to do one thing or the other, but I promise you I don't even have that kind of money myself. I don't have money.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201010060505.html

Kobojunkie:

Sigh . . . . I guessed as much . . . the typical "it has to say what I need it to say or it's dumb because I say so" mentality!

They don't want it to seem as if Jonathan does not have the support of his people, you understand? For months now they have been lying to everybody that everybody is so pleased with Jonathan, that he is going to bring peace to the region which is entirely false.

Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.

oyb:



sums it up, imho

long and short of it , no tribe in nigeria has a monopoly on incompetence.

Not just with MEND, with everybody who is fighting and to whichever way they are fighting. You don't just give people an amnesty and ask them to forget about the reason why they are fighting. Every one of us is fighting for something and if what we are fighting for is not addressed, it ushers problem in the area. You understand. It is not about Jonathan being president or about an amnesty being given. I mean, why will you steal my land and you give me an amnesty and then you expect me not to continue fighting you? Why would that happen?

dappssee:

The FG should compel the SA govt to ensure Henry Okah names the presidential aide or review his call logs.

I think the former will be better so we know the way to go.

egift:

I believe Okah more than the Government, Why:

- Okah's claims would have given GEJ a big lift (so if opponents wrote the script, did they also gave Mr. President the parts he played  
- GEJ rush to absorb MEND be less than 18hrs after the incident without reading a single security report.
- He told us he knew who did it (Guess what he don't - only if Okah had acted )
- He claim to know MEND so well, I wonder if he is a member or Sponsor

My question to all those who went to the presidency and yabbed rubbish after a cup of coffee. Exactly one year they accepted amnesty. Is there is any progress from government towards their initial request and agitation that motivated them into militancy? Are they telling us today that they were jst fighting to achieve an amnesty from the government and can have coffee with president.

It is really painful to any true ND that Yaradua a northern man was more committed to solve the problem of the region more than the so called Ijaw son who claims to the be more close the problem of the rigion than any other person. After the Amnesty in October, November Yaradua became sick which led to his death, that became the end of the Amnesty programme in a government where the VP, and later the president is from the same region. Then people are here trying to convince me that Jonathan is fully accepted by the whole ND. Not everyone is a fool in that region.
Let him wait, the next target will be his house again in Bayelsa state.

This statement is more logical more than any claim from the presidency so far.
I think all these lies and the president exonerating mend from the attack, later inviting other ex-mend leader to deny the attack after Ukah failed him is jst becoz he can not comprehend the reality of him being sabotaged by his own people. Which might later exposed their lies that all ND ans are fully behind his candidacy, in fact they told us 149.9million Nigerian want GEJA, the Messiah.

Kobojunkie:


Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201010060505.html

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]Transcript Of Henry Okah's Interview On Al Jazeera[/size]

Henry Okah: 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.

Total Lie, His house has been searched before the Bombing,

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 few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that President Jonathan issued a statement claiming that MEND didn't carry out the attack because they were expecting a kind of retraction from the group

Rubbish- The president said that nobody should hide under the banner of MEND or ND to commit a crime, It is on record that MEND has accepted Amnesty , thousands of its member had disarmed and are being paid welfare benefit,  You cant in one breadth accept that MEND has accepted Amnesty and say they are still fighting, So the president was right in his statement,  All the known leaders of MEND have dissassociated themselves from the attack bar Jomo Gbomo\Okah,  And Most ND are against the attack,  If criminal elements who were members of the now disarmed MEND, can it be said that MEND carried out the Operation, Should we now then be arresting known members of MEND, people should just use their common sense,  The resurgent bombing in Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement are not attributed to the IRA , but to dissident republicans or a newer group Real IRA,

Aljazeera: So just to be clear, why do you think that political aide was asking you to ask MEND to make that retraction? What was the reason for that?

Henry Okah: They don't want it to seem as if Jonathan does not have the support of his people, you understand? For months now they have been lying to everybody that everybody is so pleased with Jonathan, that he is going to bring peace to the region which is entirely false.

This attack now was actually going to be a great smear on his aspiration. They just needed the group to retract that statement which was why I was contacted. But I declined to make any such move.

Rubbish- No Presidential Candidate has the Total Support of his Region, e.g OBJ,  GEJ doesn't require the whole of ND to support him,  Am not even a GEJ fan and am almost writing an epistle to defend him,  Okah's action and that of the IBB camp and the Ciroma camp will all but tilt voters towards GEJ,

Aljazeera: As far as MEND is concerned, what is the situation with MEND, because Goodluck Jonathan is trying to say that this group is not a problem anymore; the previous president had tried amnesty and rehabilitation programmes, can you give us a summary of what the situation is with MEND?

Aljazeera: Are you saying none of these concerns you have are been addressed by the government?

Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.

Absolute Rubbish- As others had said - by the time the amnesty was signed till date all actions like the training and rehabilitation of Militants; Releasing of substantial budget to the NDDC and Ministry of ND where all the works of GEJ,  I hate it when idiots like Okah's distort facts to achieve their own ambition, and rubbishing the whole country and the office of the presidency,  really, jonathan needs a fani-kayode type of person, to take on idoits like this and the ciroma's group,  this GEJ guy's seems too docile,  If GEJ needs to railroad his opponents none of this guys will come out of EFCC or ICPC investigation clean, IS it IBB or Atiku or Saraki, 

Aljazeera: So Henry what do you think is going to happen to you now?


I don't care, I really couldn't care. But one thing I tell you for sure, is just like I was able to talk to you, it only shows that South Africa is not like Nigeria. In Nigeria I was held for one year and four months in solitary confinement. I didn't kill anybody, I had no books, no newspapers, no TV, no radio, not even electrified. But the fact that I can speak to you on phone, even though I am being detained, shows that I am in an entirely different country from Nigeria.

And I am arrested here at the instance of Nigeria, which threatened the South African government with diplomatic action if they didn't arrest me. That is the only reason why I am in detention. All those people I learnt have been arrested in Nigeria I have no contact with any of them, I don't even know them.

They are just trying to do this thing, to point the finger at other political opponents in order to scuttle their attempts at being president. But as you see I am not a politician and I have no any business with any of the other aspirants for the posts of president in Nigeria. I have no connection with them. The story that I have been given a lot of money by different politicians to do one thing or the other, but I promise you I don't even have that kind of money myself. I don't have money.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201010060505.html

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]Transcript Of Henry Okah's Interview On Al Jazeera[/size]

Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201010060505.html

confetti:

Okah himself said from beginning that he is not an influential[b] member[/b] of MEND so how was he supposed to make MEND retract their words?

Transcript Of Henry Okah's Interview On Al Jazeera

Absolutely none. With Yar'adua it was much better. He had a good understanding of the problem. And regardless of the fact that he was from the north he was making good attempt at addressing these problems. But with Jonathan it is entirely a different story. He doesn't know what the problems are and is also being tele-guided by other people, you know, who are giving him very bad advice

wealth2al:

I believe that Henry Okah is not innocent. let him pay for the crime he put himself.


http://www.cheaplaptop4all.com/

ziddy:

Okah is a criminal with bloodstained hands. The question we ought to be asking is why has Al-jazeera accorded this guy celebrity status? Do they have an undisclosed interest in the Jonathan presidency?

Everyone knows Okah took money from the Yar'Adua Government & went into exile. Some people have gone to exhume this bas.tard from his South African base to cause trouble for the Jonathan presidency. Are these people & Al-jazeera one & the same? Or are they two different parties working in concert?

ziddy:

Okah is a criminal with bloodstained hands. The question we ought to be asking is why has Al-jazeera accorded this guy celebrity status? Do they have an undisclosed interest in the Jonathan presidency?

Everyone knows Okah took money from the Yar'Adua Government & went into exile. Some people have gone to exhume this bas.tard from his South African base to cause trouble for the Jonathan presidency. Are these people & Al-jazeera one & the same? Or are they two different parties working in concert?

babytoun:

I think Okah is not smart, he has indirectly made himself the prime suspect in this matter. He first said Jonathan's aid asked him to frame the northern politicians, now he is saying that a former northern president did more for the people of Niger delta than Jonathan. Now I will ask okah. what exactly did UMYA do?  A smart person will distance himself from the bombing and not make any statement that suggest he has anything to grind with the current administration.

babytoun:

On a more serious note, is it proper for the SA authorities to allow Aljazeera do an interview with okah like this when he is being detained? When it is possible that he can make statements (true/or untrue) that can set our entire country ablaze? I really smell something.