Friday, October 22, 2010
Abuja bombing: Okah gave orders to militants - Prosecutors:oct 1
South African prosecutors said yesterday that Henry Okah gave orders to buy the cars used in the October 1 Abuja bombings and rig them with explosives. Okah, the alleged leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was arrested in Johannesburg on October 2, the day after the twin car bomb blasts, which killed 12 people near the Eagle Square.
“The accused gave instructions to purchase the cars used and load their boots with dynamite,” prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said at Okah’s bail hearing in Johannesburg, reading from an affidavit by the South African police’s lead investigator in the case.
“The accused gave instructions to purchase the cars used and load their boots with dynamite,” prosecutor Shaun Abrahams said at Okah’s bail hearing in Johannesburg, reading from an affidavit by the South African police’s lead investigator in the case.
Abrahams said Chima Orlu, the man the Federal Government believe supervised the attacks, contacted Okah by SMS immediately before the blasts and about two hours after.
Orlu, who is wanted in Nigeria, “acted on the instruction of the accused,” Abrahams said. He did not give details of Okah’s alleged exchanges with Orlu, saying the contents are still being investigated. Abrahams also said Okah was in contact by email with some of the nine people arrested in Nigeria after the blasts, and received a forwarded message from one of them that said, “Done, tell them to leave now”, at 4:25 pm, about five and a half hours after the bombings.
According to the affidavit, the explosions took place under the supervision of Chima Orlu, who is said to have acted on the instructions of Mr Okah. Mr Orlu’s telephone records show that he had been in contact with Mr Okah on numerous occasions leading up to October 1. Mr Okah is said to have sent text messages to Mr Orlu on 30 September 2010 at 12h 38:11pm, and on October 1 at 6h 02:39am, 7h 40: 20am, 7h 41:22am and at 7h 41:35 am. Mr Zeeman’s statement stressed that “of greater significance is that Mr Orlu sent an SMS to Mr Okah at precisely 10h 58:59 am on 1 October, 13h 13:01am and 13h 29:59pm on the same day.”
“There are also witness statements which implicate the accused as having been the mastermind behind the attacks,” Abrahams said. He was speaking a day after the magistrate in the case told the prosecution the evidence it had presented in the week-long bail hearing was “vague”.
