By SaharaReporters, New York

As the trial of the suspected MEND leader, Henry Okah, unravels in South Africa and that of his older brother, Charles, begins in Abuja, the broader Okah family is internally battling another of the brothers who is alleged to be the one who sold out his siblings.

Known as "Dr. Bowie," the 41-year old’s original name is Sonny Bowie Okah, and he is the younger brother of Henry. Members of the family believe he has been providing the Nigerian government with unusual help in tracking down two of his brothers - Henry and Charles! 

Sunny is number six in line in the Okah family of 9 children. For some reason, he has been at loggerheads with Charles and Henry dating back to the 1990s when Henry is alleged to have actively engaged in serious arms business. 

Family sources told Saharareporters that Sunny had business disagreements with Charles which prompted Henry’s intervention. From that time, the relationship went sour and family ties were irretrievably broken.

The sources told Saharareporters that Sonny's troubles started after he was kicked out of the Nigerian Defence Academy. He returned to Lagos to live with his father and later his elder brother, Charles, in the Apapa area of Lagos.

Sonny was accused of trying to kill his late father, Commander Okah, prompting his referral to a psychiatric hospital in Yaba area of Lagos. Somehow, he managed to escape from the mental home and joined the Olumba Olumba religious sect in Lagos. His more tolerant brother, Charles, took Sonny in, but sources said that while living with his benefactor, he also attempted to kill him.

When things got out of hand, Sonny returned to Kaduna, a terrain with which he was familiar as a former student of both the Nigerian Military School in Zaria, and the Nigerian Defence Academy. 

In Kaduna, our sources said, he claimed to be a 'medical doctor' to the extent that he even “operated” on renal patients at the teaching hospital in Kaduna. People who worked at the Teaching Hospital in Kaduna remember him as “Dr. Bowie,” who was also an elder in Kaduna Praise Chapel for All Nations, a popular Pentecostal church. Bowie was housed in the official doctors’ quarters by the Kaduna State Teaching Hospital, a fact which suggests he may have forged certificates presenting him as a certified doctor. Soon, however, a major ethno-religious crisis forced him to return to Lagos around 1997.



While in Kaduna, Sonny married Ndidi Bowie, a barrister who runs a charity organization and has the traditional title of "Amuludun of Agbara", a neighborhood where Henry lived for a long time before he moved to South Africa. No member of the Okah family is said to have attended their wedding.



Upon his return to Lagos, Sonny went into the production of musical steel drums. Our sources said that his steel drum business was a cover up for a sinister arms business, which involved buying arms from top Nigerian army officials. In 2007, thousands of AK-47 rifles, General Purpose Machine guns (GPMGs) and ammunition were reported missing from the Nigerian Army Central Ordinance Depot in Kaduna, and it turned out that some top military officers were selling arms to Niger Delta militants. Sonny was promptly arrested for acting as an accessory to the crime of weapon dealing with some army majors and a colonel.

Detained for two months by the SSS, Sonny is said to have felt very bitter that his brothers did not come to his aide. To save his skin, he bargained with the army court-marshal prosecutors to serve as the star witness in the trial of top military officers involved in the illegal arms trade.

Shortly after Sonny’s release, Henry was arrested in Angola, an event for which family members blamed Sonny, who was said to have leaked Henry's itinerary to Nigerian intelligence. Sonny's job as a spy meant that he was going to become a state witness against his brother at his secret trial before a federal high court in Jos in addition to Asari Dokubo, an unrepentant enemy of Henry. Asari, however, opted out of the trial as Ijaw leaders intervened to stop him.



Meanwhile while Henry Okah was languishing in detention, Sonny reportedly leased out his Agbara Estate property, believing Henry would not make it out of detention. Sonny later approached Charles claiming he could get Henry out of detention using his connections with the SSS. Charles made N9 million available to him but he never was able to save Henry. Family sources insist that Sonny's most interesting and rewarding job has been to serve as a snitch on his two brothers on behalf of the Nigerian government.

When Henry was released, Sonny stayed at Charles "bodysurfers" home in Agbara Estate, and went into a balloon and decorating business with his wife. 





In the current crisis, Sonny is credited with leading state security officials to obtain crucial intelligence on his two brothers. Charles, the trial of whom began this morning, is currently detained at the underground cells of the SSS in Abuja, while Henry is undergoing a grueling trial and application for bail over allegations that he and Charles were directly involved in the Independence Day twin bombing that killed scores of people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

Charles son, 23-year old Gbolibe, who recently returned from South Africa where he had sought medical treatment following a car accident, as well as a domestic staff of his father’s and Olushola Ladoja, the son of former Governor of Oyo State, Senator Ladoja, were this morning arraigned along with Charles.

Sonny, unlike his brothers, seems to be doing quite well. Having dispensed with Okah as his last name, family sources revealed that he is about to be nominated into the "National Security Advisory Board" by the Jonathan government.

Meanwhile, the judge handling the case of Charles and three others at an Abuja Magistrate court adjourned till November 24 for a proper plea to be taken from them. While Okah family members and lawyers were barred from today's arraignment, the SSS brought the four accused to the court in handcuffs and purported to charge them. Curiously, apart from Charles and his relatives, the SSS did not bring any of the four other persons it claimed to have arrested in connection with the bombings to court.

Also of interest today is that as the arraignment of Charles was in progress, it was rumored that the SSS had arrested Sonny Okah. Saharareporters was unable to obtain any official confirmation of his arrest. But skeptical members of the family told us they believed Sonny's was "arrest" was an elaborate scam to fool the Nigerian public

saharareporters.com/news-page/turmoil-okah-family-identify-%E2%80%9Cenemy-within%E2%80%9D

So you have given us his life story, so what? we should kill him for not becoming a criminal like his brothers?

nice.

louisth0ru:

So you have given us his life story, so what? we should kill him for not becoming a criminal like his brothers?

The man has got a history, add that to those of his siblings and u can tell its running in the blood. Whoever has got him is unto something.

I am not suprised about this story

This is the story of Nigerian Barrack Boys.

Ok, so Sahara Reporters has now sunk to the new low of publishing sob stories about Henry and Charles Okah? Wonders shall never cease!
In their concucted tale that sounds like the job of a lunatic, one brother is made to look like a demon, while those that are on trial for the blood of 16 innocent souls are made to look like heroes!

What sort of scum are in control of Sahara Reporters?

The sorth that have so much time to waste