₦airaland Forum

Ex-Mend leader implicates Nigeria
Henry Okah tells Al Jazeera presidential aide wanted him to tell armed group to withdraw claim for Abuja deadly blasts.
Last Modified: 05 Oct 2010 13:20 GMT
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Mend claimed responsibility for the blasts that killed 10 people in the capital Abuja [Reuters]
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."

'Unpatriotic elements'

Jonathan, who hails from the country's south and has declared his intentions to stand in next year's presidential election, said investigations had revealed Mend, which is fighting for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth, knew nothing about the attacks.

He said the bombings had been carried out by a small group based outside Nigeria, sponsored by "unpatriotic elements within the country".

Nigeria will be holding elections in January almost a year after Jonathan assumed the presidency after the incumbent president failed to complete his term due to illness and eventual death.

Jonathan's predecessor, Umaru Yaradua, came from the northern state of Katsina and Nigeria has an unwritten agreement for the presidency to alternate between the mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south.

Al Jazeera did not get any immediate reaction from the Nigerian government about Okah's claims.

Meanwhile, the authorities have released nine people they arrested in connection with the bomb blasts on Monday, including an aide for Ibrahim Babangida, the country's former military leader.

Raymond Dokpesi, the director of Babandida's campaign to become the ruling party presidential candidate, was questioned by the country's intelligence services over the blasts, an aide said on Tuesday.

Dokpesi, who also owns one of Nigeria's leading television and radio stations, was summoned to the State Security Services (SSS) on Monday, Kassim Afegbua, a spokesman for Babangida, told the AFP news agency.

"He was released yesterday and is to report back today at about 3'oclock (1400 GMT)," Afegbua said.

"They said it is to do with complicity in the bomb incident of October 1."

Several media reports on Tuesday said text messages found on the mobile phone of one of the nine suspects arrested by the state secret police led to the summoning of Dokpesi.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Am sorry to say, there's a lot of dumb MF on nairaland. Of course the man knows he has no chance in hell to win the race, it's a way for him to up his status as a Nigeria, which I think is a very very smart of him, ex Ross Perot ran for US president right, it gave him more clout after the race. Besides he has every right to declare to run just like you and I.

I like that. I, too like the juju wey dey make person fly for air like bird


lol, am telling u our juju na windows 95, dem don dey use windos 7. We need to upgrade jo!!!!!!!! lol

Also, look at the regions that still widely practice juju today: wset Africa, south America, Haiti, all are undeveloped.



Cause these beliefs keep the human mind and imagination in bondage. During the dark ages in Europe these kinds of beliefs persisted hence the term dark ages, science and tech was suppressed

Yes there is juju, juju jus pass juju, lol. Imagine someone is America or anywhere in the world for that matter can speak into a small box and hear a voice from another part of the world, that na oyinbo juju for u, it' called "SCIENCE". It's practically the only thing that has improved and still improves our lives since the dawn of time. Even though there are still somethings out there we do not understand, the concept of juju is totally false. Its a contraption created to keep people in line just like religion. To all those who believe in African bullet vest, I say wow. Africa needs to get out of these nonsense beliefs if we are ever going to move forward, we need to switch up our juju game, the new game in town is science. The oyibo man came, saw and conquered Africa, whats good is our juju if it can't even save us from slavery of self and of the mind that still persists today, juju my ass!!!!!!!!! I beg commot 4 road jo!!!!!!!!

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pls kindly send to omisore1st@yahoo.com thank you.

Seguntx, I see that u have SAP BW expeerience,, this is a field I am currently trying to get into. Can u pls email me ur details at omisore1st@yahoo.com, so that I can get intouch with u. Thanks.

I liken this whole Islamic thingy to a game of basketball. Islam, the people and the religion were playing good basketball back in the AD era, shortly after teh death of christ. The Arabs with their religion were powerful, had a lot of scientific breakthrough's and discoveries. They were running fast breaks and scoring at will against the Europeans. On the first play of the second half, they were clearly fouled by the Europeans, but the ref did not make the call, instead of going back to play defense, they started to complain, and complain, complain, complain never ending. In the mean time the Europeans kept on running up the score. Word the wise, get back to playing defense and maybe u guys might make the point difference respectable, cause its already a blowout and u guys know it, that why u are constantly bitter. I mean get real, u guys want the head of a teacher because one of her students named a TB after himself, Wow, I mean wow am speechless. All this is going on at a time when more than half of the people in Sudan live in abject poverty, they should be calling for the heads of their leaders and not the teacher. Is the Muslim north tolerant of their Christian brothers in the south, I think not. I used to say to people that the problem was not with Islam, but a small sect of extremists, I am actually starting to doubt my own assumptions. If the tolerant and sensible in Islam will not stand up and condemn this act of barbarism then I am safe to group them all as one. They are in uproar over a TB while there are more serious issues affecting their people in Sudan, wow, mind boggling I tell u.

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You might be suffering from Schizophrenia.  Going by the definition, you definitely have a split mind, u are all over the place, what does monkey and lunatic woman have to do with the question posed to you. You definitely have impairments in the perception or expression of reality. PDP making IBB step down says it all, IBB is not some mythical god, he might have been extremely relevant eight years or so ago, but the political landscape of Nigeria has changed so much in 8 yrs.



“better still stop visiting your customer_lunatic_woman down your hood and doing all the dirty works with her”

OMG, my guy u are loosing it for real, but realy how did u know I was chilling with ur MOMS.


“maybe then u would read well and assimilate beta super-schmuck”

Till date you have not written anything of substance worthy of  assimilating. You are the real Yiddish jerk.


“I can relate better with the likes of lewa, odeku and a few others but never your type that can't read and write simple English”.

Because I dey write in pidgin, now I no sabi English, ha ha ha, u make me laugh, it’s just like saying someone is an Uncle Tom cause he or she speaks proper english. I am not even going to go to that deep end with you playboy. You talk about simple English, my question was and is still, “Tell us, the less informed masses some facts about why u feel IBB is still that relevant in Naija politics”, u failed to deliver, but went on with insults and big ass grammar that added no substance to ur reply.

Since u failed to deliver, I am charging u on three counts

1. Impersonating of a writer
2. Big use of words without substance
3. Side stepping the questions asked


I find u guilty on all three counts

YOU ARE GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!

CASE CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey professor, shey u go answer my question or u go jus dey blow grammer. Like I said earlier in my previous post, u just dey blow smoke no fire, u dey bark, u no get bite, u get all this grammer u no get sence. I know say u be IBB fu*K boy, u dey talk about monkey, wetin concern monkey with the question wey I ask. Abi u dey try talk in code of how u dey shine IBB monkey, omo may u no dey speak in parables, if u be one of IBB boys make u let us no, at least then we go no where u dey come from.

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Smokejuice, yes i am IBB and u must be Clifford Orji or Shina Rambo!! U schmuck!! can't u read to save your life dummy?! U r new around and i see u having erections on me already, u suffering from homo-chondria?? Ibb does not need u or any others like Donzman to think the world of him, whether u feel he's/he's been a hero or villain aint d issue, look out properly(if your lenses really are functional) and u will see the imprints of d fat prince of the niger in day 2 day naija governance, don't u guys ever reconcile with realism??
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Hey  I for know say u be IBB, wetin u dey do for internet sef, shouldn’t be scheming on ways to take over Naija right about now, but instead u dey on top internet dey chat, just adds more credence to the people wey talk say u no get teeth for Naija politics anymore, oh well truth dey hurt. And what’s up with all the abuses, I made an observation, seems like all ur arguments are based on myths, no concrete facts. Again can u please educate some of us that might be less privileged to some of the inner workings of the IBB machine, since u know so much, no he or she say, just straight up facts.

ps : I got word from the IBB camp, say to stay off his nuts, u are on the guys nuts so hard it's boderline GAY!!!!!!

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I've been in the game for donkey years, so i know what am talking about! We are all free to believe anything we wish to but i pray God sustainer of life preserves us through d festive period whilst from thence we shall watch events unfold, Amen!
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This guy jus dey blow smoke anyhow, I don change hin name to chimney, Kai smoke jus dey blow any how, no fire jus all smoke like IBB!!!
u sure say u no be IBB sef!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blah blah blah kitaun


All smoke no fire



Please give us facts. How is IBB still relevant. Thank you.

Blah blah blah kitaun


All smoke no fire



Pls give us fact how IBB is till relevant. Thank you.

Very Graphic


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To all the Creationist out there, do u guys belive in the yoruba version of creationism as well or any other version of creationism out there? just a question

How many there in lagos are willing and able to pay ? Dont foget that far more than 60% of that 13-16million you quote are living in sheer poverty.


Are we not talking of free internet browsing, if its free nternet browsing which I think it isthen what are they paying for. As long as they go the google and they click on a search result link Google get paid.

Google is realy smart with this this, not only is it socially responsible, its also very good for their business, the more people from these various cities have internet access, the more they can go on search engines like google and conduct searches meaning more money for Google in the long run, great Idea, perssonally I think they should put it in lagos due to the population factior in lagos, about 13 - 16 million people I belive, more people to go online, but I think they are loking at the future though, there will bea as much people in Abuja if not more than Lagos in hte comming years.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=40185

Would u support Buhari for president come 2007, if u do what is ur reason behind it and if u don't, give reasons.

Efcc Freezes Plateau Govt’s Account
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=38446

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=36802


Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said yesterday that the detention and investigation of former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), was triggered by what he described as an "international jurisdiction" which was referred to his agency from abroad.
Ribadu, who stated that Marwa was under what he called 'legal custody', told newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos that the case against the Albarka Airlines chairman was the first serious one in connection with money looted and stashed abroad by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Asked why it took the EFCC such a long time to uncover the alleged connection of Marwa, Ribadu retorted: "Which Abacha case has happened before? Which one? This is the first serious case we are taking in respect of Abacha.
"Look, Nigerians will see what we are going to do soon, and this case is not even here. It was something that came from abroad. It was referred to EFCC by an international jurisdiction. The issue is, we know what we are doing. When we are ready, you will see us. We are going to go public. He is in legal custody", he said.
On whether the EFCC is at a crossroad over Marwa, Ribadu said: "We are never at a crossroads with anything in whatever we are doing; we are professionals. We work hard until we establish a case, and the day we are comfortable with our case, you see us going to court like all the other cases we have handled before. So, this one is not going to be different."
Marwa has been in the EFCC custody since last Friday over alleged link with the Abacha loot.
His ordeal, his lawyers from the chambers of Chief Afe Babalola claimed, might have political undertone since, according to them, nothing had so far linked him with the account-holding part of the Abacha loot.
The EFCC is holding Marwa on the allegation that he is in possession of some of the funds looted by Abacha, an allegation he had denied 2001 when it was first investigated and dropped for lack of evidence.
Marwa was the last Military Administrator of Lagos State before the advent of democratic rule in 1999. He is a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has since declared his presidential ambition for 2007.


In a related development, Ribadu who also fielded questions on the alleged corruption in the aviation industry, particularly yesterday's report that about N128 million was spent on grass cutting by the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said the organisation would come under EFCC searchlight.
"We are going to FAAN to unearth the allegation of corruption. It is a sector that is vital. Some of the corruption is responsible for the accidents and crashes we have had in some weeks. I can confirm to you, we will invite some of the CEOs for interrogation", he stated.