Charles Okah, whose brother, Henry
Okar, led the leader of the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta,
MEND, until he was jailed by South
African authorities, speaks to PREMIUM
TIMES about the aftermath of the October
1, 2010 Independence Day bombing, his
business deals with the United States and
the United Kingdom and more.


How were you arrested and where were
you taken to from the time of your
arrest to the time you were sent to Kuje
Prison?

I was arrested at my residence in Apapa
GRA, Lagos on Saturday, October 1, 2010
at about 1pm. There was no arrest
warrant produced. It was a crude kidnap-
type operation. The team leader told me
that I was being arrested on suspicion of
being the elusive spokesman of the
Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, MEND, who goes by the
pseudonym Jomo Gbomo. My eldest son
who was back from school in the United
States at the time was also arrested. We
were bound, blindfolded, and taken to the
DSS Lagos office where we spent the
night. The next morning, we were flown
to their Abuja headquarters in a military
plane. Two days later on Tuesday, Oct 19,
2010, the DSS spokeswoman, Ms Marilyn
Ogar, was announcing on national
television that “their investigations had
revealed that Charles Tonbra Okah is
Jomo Gbomo”. But barely two weeks after
that announcement, while still in their
custody, the same Jomo Gbomo released a
statement, and has continued up till this
day. I was transferred to Kuje Prison
custody by an order of the court on
December 24, 2010, where I have
remained since then.

Before your arrest, what was your
relationship with GEJ?

I was not close to him. I met him on a
few occasions when he was deputy
governor under my cousin, Chief
Diepreye Alamiesiyegha. Again, when he
was governor, he spoke to my brother
through my phone in his office, because
Henry did not want to call him directly. I
also met him in Pretoria, South Africa as
Vice President, when the then President
Yar’Adua sent him, in the company of
Chief Timipre Sylva, and Senator David
Brigidi to establish communications with
Henry towards addressing the problems
inside the creeks. I was in South Africa
on business at the time.

We understand the Goodluck Jonathan
administration was constantly in
contact with you here in Kuje Prison?

That is true. There were several
surreptitious and nocturnal visits that
spanned the over four years I have been
held here in Kuje Prison. The visits were
made by Gordon Obuah, former Chief
Security Officer to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,
in company with the Special Adviser on
Niger Delta Amnesty Programme,
Kingsley Kuku. Their mission was to
ensure that I cooperated with the
government in implicating Nasir El-Rufai
and others in the October 1, 2010
bombing. Mr. Obuah and Kuku said I
would be set free if I implicated the
perceived enemies of the former
president.

When and how did they visit you in the
prison?

The visits were done after the 6pm final
lock-up of inmates. Before any visit, the
Presidency and the DSS would inform the
Controller General of Prisons who in turn
would inform the Controller FCT
Command, the Officer-in-Charge, Kuje
prison and the Chief Warder to ensure
they wait and receive the high profile
visitors. The prison officials are usually
told to wait outside the office of the
Officer in Charge when the meeting is on.
After these visits, some moneys were
given to the prison officials for my
welfare and that of two others arrested
over the 50th Independence Day
Anniversary bombing. The last meetings
came in late 2014, where I was shown a
draft of an endorsement for Goodluck
Jonathan by Mr. Kuku which he said had
been sent by email to MEND. He
promised that we would be released as
soon as GEJ is voted for a second term,
and wanted me to find ways to reach out
to MEND to release that draft as its
endorsement for Goodluck. The former
CSO on his part assured me he would
ensure the container which was ordered
by my company on behalf of the United
States Embassy and seized by the DSS at
the Tin Can Island Port on the allegation it
contained plastic explosives, would be
released to my wife. They also promised
to off-set school fees owed by my
children.

But MEND did not endorse Jonathan
after all?

MEND refused to support Jonathan and I
was told to forget any financial aid and to
brace myself for another four year stay in
prison when Goodluck wins, as if it was
my fault the group endorsed Buhari.

Did you say you had a contract from the
American Embassy?

Yes I did. The 40 foot container, which
was not tendered in court as exhibit even
though the reason given by the DSS for
its seizure was that its contents included
plastic explosives, was imported by
my company for the American Embassy
on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria
Island, Lagos. The contents were plastic
floating docks and installation accessories
which originated from the EZ Dock
Company in Monnet, Missouri, USA after
we received a Local Purchase Order from
the embassy which was approved in
Washington.

Who is currently in custody of the
container?

I have no idea. Since they claimed I
imported plastic explosives for the
American Embassy, I would expect the
container to be at the Tin Can Island Port
in Lagos under heavy security or in the
premises of the DSS in Abuja, to be
presented at short notice to the court. My
concern is the damage that has been done
to the improperly stored contents of the
legitimate import.

Did the American Government reach out
to former President Goodluck Jonathan
to sort out the issue of the container?

I have no idea what transpired between
the Goodluck Jonathan government and
the American Government. I was
informed by my wife when she visited me
at the DSS headquarters where I was
being held that in an attempt to distance
themselves, the American Embassy sent
her a letter revoking the contract for the
floating docks which had already been
brought into the country. That was the
least of my worry. My main concern was
that the Embassy would refuse my son re-
entry into the United States where he was
concluding his studies at the University of
Kansas. But as God would have it, the
Embassy did not give him any trouble.
The problem came from the DSS
operatives attached to the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport who
refused him to leave on two occasions
until Festus Keyamo intervened.

Did the Jonathan Government pay fees
for your kids?

We got assistance from time to time from
a few friends in the government, but this
was not in any official capacity.

Apart from El-Rufai, who were the
other person’s the administration
wanted you to implicate in the Oct 1,
2010 bombing?

I wouldn’t know if the DSS interrogators
were acting on instructions from GEJ but
I know that they had a list of names but
only presented the names of Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida, Chief Raymond Dokpesi,
Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Chief Timipre
Sylva, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Somehow they were aware that I had
visited Gen. Babangida early 2010, at his
residence in Abuja, and wanted to use
that visit as the platform to work out a
false statement which would suggest that
the general’s house was the rendezvous
for an assassination plot to eliminate
former President Jonathan on Oct 1, 2010.

Were some of the people you were
asked to implicate aware of the plot?

I don’t know since I have not had contact
with the outside world. The only person
who got to know at that time was Mallam
Nasir El Rufai. I had managed to smuggle
a letter from the prison to warn him and
others. He later published that letter in
his book, “The Accidental Public Servant.”
I couldn’t implicate innocent people in a
crime I was implicated simply because my
accusers promised me freedom.
Could it be that the bombing was
organised to nail you and others?
I would not know but from what I read in
the papers, the bombing was claimed by
the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND) who never make
false claims of responsibility. I read that
the bombing was a symbolic attack meant
to counter the impression that the group
no longer existed as was being
propagated by Goodluck Jonathan and
some ex-militants. The DSS and Jonathan
strategists may have wanted to take
advantage of that MEND attack minus the
claim. After the bomb blast occurred,
Elder Godsday Orubebe, and Mr. Tony
Uranta contacted my brother (Henry
Okah) in South Africa to use his influence
to ask MEND to retract their statement
which claimed responsibility so that,
according to Uranta in a text message to
Henry on October 1, 2010, the bombing
could be blamed on ‘Northern elements’.
The request was refused by Henry.

But the former President had during a
PDP rally in Lagos accused your
brother, Henry, of being hired by some
persons to assassinate him. Were you
also accused?

Yes they did after I refused to ‘cooperate’
with them. They said that the money I
withdrew for the purchase of dollars for
my son’s school fees came from the
‘sponsors’ of the bomb blast and insisted
that the money was used to buy cars used
in the bombing. It was after filing charges
that they eventually traced the source of
the money to a payment made into my
Zenith Bank account by the British High
Commission in Abuja through its defence
attache. This payment which was made
around September 2010; was for a
contract awarded my company to install a
floating dock for the Nigerian Navy at its
Lagos Satellite Town Base. I wonder why
they have not yet arrested the British
High Commissioner and his US
counterpart for alleged involvement the
phantom

source:
www.premiumtimesng.com/features-and-interviews/186436-interview-jonathan-tried-to-implicate-innocent-nigerians-in-independence-day-bombing-okah.html

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This asshole romanced North to humiliate his own bro...when things turned around fr him, he expected that same brother to come to his aid but no way.
I won't be surprise if he's released tomorrow (mission accomplished)... cos this is the era of terrorist being released fr no reason!!!

there's no amount of colouration or its doctored will hide the fact that this is their usual propaganda... we are used to

Some people will still hate mr gej even they are in the grave , huh the hatred is too much . But this man have left the office why can't him have rest na wah oooh.