South African police have arrested a former leader of a Nigerian militant group that claimed responsibility for multiple car bombings this week that killed 14 people in the Nigeria city of Abuja.
“Henry Okah was arrested in South Africa based on intelligence that he intended to cause disorder during the independence day anniversary,” said Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman for the-oil rich African country’s State Security Service.
The blasts occurred on Friday near where Nigeria’s leaders and foreign delegations, had gathered to commemorate the country’s 50 years of independence. About 15 foreign leaders, including a representative of Queen Elizabeth 11 and a delegation from India led by Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, were present during the attack.
Okah, a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was arrested in Johannesburg. MEND sent an email confirming his arrest on Thursday but said the government was given 5 days prior notice before the attack. MEND has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.
Nigeria’s secret service acknowledged it received a warning about the impending attack long before the bombs exploded on Friday. They exonerated Okah from the attack stating “he has never been involved in any MEND operations but has always been blamed for every attack which is strange to us.”
During Okah’s first arrest in 2008, he was charged on 62 counts that included treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking. He was later released under an amnesty by late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. Meanwhile, Okah’s lawyer Piet du Plessis said his arrest was “unwarranted” and calling for his immediate release.
“Although Okah, a Nigerian citizen, is a known sympathiser of the fate of the people of the Niger Delta, he denies having made himself guilty of any crime in South Africa or anywhere else,” Piet du Plessis said in a statement on Saturday night.
Du Plessis said it should be noted that Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan had already stated that Mend and the people of the Delta were not to be blamed for the blasts.
“Our instructions are that his arrest is totally unwarranted and only an ill-advised attempt to please the Nigerian authorities,” he said.
