Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Henry Okah reiterated accusations that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan asked him to tell rebels in the Niger Delta to retract their claim to be behind the Oct. 1 bombings in Nigeria that killed 12 people.

Jonathan made the request “so the president could blame the bombings on his presidential opponents,” Okah told the Johannesburg Magistrates Court, where he faces charges of helping to organize the bombing.

Okah denied he is the leader of Nigeria’s Movement for the Emancipation of The Niger Delta, or MEND, which claimed responsibility for the attacks, though he does have the “respect of most of the fighters,” he said today. His bail hearing started yesterday in Johannesburg, where he now lives, and is scheduled to resume Oct. 18. He was arrest on Oct. 2.

Nigeria’s government dismissed Okah’s comments, which came a week after he told the Al Jazeera news service that a close associate of the president called him to request the retraction.

“At first he said it was the president’s aide and now he’s saying it’s the president,” Ima Niboro, Jonathan’s spokesman, said by phone from the capital, Abuja, today. “That shows the type of man he is. He’s a criminal and a drowning man catching on straws.”



MEND will carry out a further bomb attack in Abuja, the group said in an e-mailed statement today.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer and the fifth- largest source of U.S. oil imports. Attacks by MEND and other armed groups in the Niger River delta, home to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009. The attacks declined after thousands of fighters accepted a government amnesty last year.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total SA operate joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. that pump most of Nigeria’s oil.

--With assistance from Dulue Mbachu in Abuja. Editors: Philip Sanders, Andrew Atkinson

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/okah-repeats-allegations-against-nigerian-president-bloomberg-news

From accusing "a presidential aide to accusing the president" That really shows how inconsistent this clown is. Bloody murderer

Jonathan made the request “so the president could blame the bombings on his presidential opponents,” Okah told the Johannesburg Magistrates Court, where he faces charges of helping to organize the bombing.

With the above comment, Okah is either a drowning man or he has been misquoted.

warrior01:

From accusing "a presidential aide to accusing the president" That really shows how inconsistent this clown is. Bloody murderer

Presidential, or political, aides often work as advisors and personal assistants to the president. They represent the president when interacting with the public. Aides work with constituents, and they also must stay up to date on the latest political trends among policymakers.

Usually, when the presidential aide puts in an order on behalf of the president, it is considered an order from the president. But that is just by the way . . . we may need to learn more here since he is not quoted as saying the President called him and not an aide.

I dont get it. How does this assertion and its constant repetition exonerate him of these weighty charges? I dont see how. The proclaimed objective of Henry Okah and MEND requires a lot of gut and brawn. It also needs common sense. Okah should talk more to his lawyers than the media.

Otherwise he is going to be found dead in a Nigerian cell, early one morning.

OMO IBO:

With the above comment, Okah is either a drowning man or he has been misquoted.

Thank you for rightly observing that . . . see the differences in the two interviews.  Even during the so called phone call to aljazeera the caller's voice was very shaky.

First Interview

Presidential aid called him.

Jonathan wants to put the blame on Northerners

Second Interview

Jonathan called me.

Jonathan wants to put the blame on his presidential rivals


This guy is a very cheap bloody liar and all this inconsistency will surely be used against him in the court room.

@Kobojunkie
But Okah should know better if it was true that he wrote in his diary that his brother, Charles, had been faking his voice and collecting money using his name. It is probably the same set of people, playing the two roles if both statements made by Okah in his diary and the call to "pin it on the northerners" were true.

Kobojunkie:

Usually, when the presidential aide puts in an order on behalf of the president, it is considered an order from the president. But that is just by the way . . . we may need to learn more here since he is not quoted as saying the President called him and not an aide.

koruji:

@Kobojunkie
But Okah should know better if it was true that he wrote in his diary that his brother, Charles, had been faking his voice and collecting money using his name. It is probably the same set of people, playing the two roles if both statements made by Okah in his diary and the call to "pin it on the northerners" were true.

Are you joking?  The man is in South Africa. His Brother is in Lagos. How can it be the same person during the same periods, in South Africa and Lagos? Are you suggesting Okah knew his diary would be confiscated and so conveniently wrote in it that his brother was faking his voice? I am not even sure what you are suggesting.

@Kobojunkie
No, that is not what I am suggesting. These are my points:

1. If it is true that Okah wrote in his diary that his brother was faking his voice and collecting money in his name.
2. Then Okah must know that it is possible for someone to pretend to be somebody else - even with the stakes so high
3. If (1) & (2) are both true then Okah ought to know that if someone called him and said he was representing the president - it could be completely fake
4. If 1 - 3 are actually true i.e. someone did call Okah representing the president and someone was faking his voice then it is probably the same group of people all along.

Of course those are all big ifs

Kobojunkie:

Are you joking?  The man is in South Africa. His Brother is in Lagos. How can it be the same person during the same periods, in South Africa and Lagos? Are you suggesting Okah knew his diary would be confiscated and so conveniently wrote in it that his brother was faking his voice? I am not even sure what you are suggesting.

koruji:

@Kobojunkie
No, that is not what I am suggesting. These are my points:

1. If it is true that Okah wrote in his diary that his brother was faking his voice and collecting money in his name.
2. Then Okah must know that it is possible for someone to pretend to be somebody else - even with the stakes so high
3. If (1) & (2) are both true then Okah ought to know that if someone called him and said he was representing the president - it could be completely fake
4. If 1 - 3 are actually true i.e. someone did call Okah representing the president and someone was faking his voice then it is probably the same group of people all along.

Of course those are all big ifs

Oh so you are suggesting now that someone faked the call made to Okah? Do we have proof or any evidence of that for Okah, and his lawyer to concern themselves with that at this time? If that ever came up, I am certain the will probably let us know. Only we are yet to get the name of the supposed caller and yet to get information or evidence proving none of the presidential aides actually made the call to OKah. So, I think we should wait on such for now.

Yes, waiting is what I have always advocated. It seems we agree on that - so I am going to celebrate a little 

---Celebration over ---

So, if Okah wants us to believe that his brother was faking his voice (assuming he actually wrote those words), then he cannot at the same time hold on to a call from someone pupporting to be a representative of the president as indisputable fact. In essence, he is kind of destroying his own case.

Kobojunkie:

Oh so you are suggesting now that someone faked the call made to Okah? Do we have proof or any evidence of that for Okah, and his lawyer to concern themselves with that at this time? If that ever came up, I am certain the will probably let us know. Only we are yet to get the name of the supposed caller and yet to get information or evidence proving none of the presidential aides actually made the call to OKah. So, I think we should wait on such for now.

@koruji

koruji:

Yes, waiting is what I have always advocated. It seems we agree on that - so I am going to celebrate a little 

---Celebration over ---

So, if Okah wants us to believe that his brother was faking his voice (assuming he actually wrote those words), then he cannot at the same time hold on to a call from someone pupporting to be a representative of the president as indisputable fact. In essence, he is kind of destroying his own case.

Time for Kobojunkie to reply you with ROFLMAO!!!.

Okah is really a confused & drowning man now.

please leave us a alone, with the Niger deltans and militancy thing ?tired of MEND,GEJ and the NL ND that keep trying to protect and compound the issue.let justice be done .the truth always stands out clear but we choose to do regional or religious politics with cases of criminality and Justice for Nigerians.we can't even question a president cos we all know how far .
Apart from the assumptions and trash theory to support various intreast groups, nothing more concrete.Not a single link has being connected to the people so far indicted by the first wave of arrest and no single sensible explanation,i mean if the government was truly in control .
May i remind you people that anything politically motivated by the presidency usually never gets concluded.Atleast, my experience class in nigeria and Government has shown.Harry marshal(Obj),Bola Ige(Obj),Rilwanu(Abacha time),Dele giwa(IBB) and alot of examples to be cited .please lets forget this crap and wish the victims quick recovery and the lost souls RIP.s**t ain't happening cos i smell the power of government all over.Just going round in circles.They should get us suspects, if they were sincere and let the courts clear such suspects or convict them of any possible violation of the law .no chances should be taken .