October 1 Bombing: Henry Okah Insists Jonathan Masterminded Bomb Attacks

Mr. Henry Okah who is standing trial in South African magistrate court, yesterday, told the court that President Goodluck Jonathan and his aides organized the October 1, 2010 bomb attacks in Abuja in a desperate political strategy to demonize political opponents, and win popular sympathy ahead of the 2011 elections.

Henry Okah, the detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who is being blamed for the 2010 Independence Day bomb that killed at least 10 people with many more injured, told a South African court the attacks were sponsored by President Goodluck Jonathan.

However, the federal government who has linked MEND leader’s brother, Charles Okah and four others to the 2010 Independence Day twin bombing has also arraigned them before a Federal High Court in Abuja for the acts of terrorism and other treasonable offences.

In a 194 page affidavit deposed to at a South African court, the MEND leader, Henry Okah yesterday said that the president and those working for him, had engineered similar attacks prior to October 1 bombing in March 2010.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has faulted the claims of Okah before a South African court.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the president described Okah’s claims as not only false, but lacking factual foundation.

A statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday night reads in part: “The Presidency categorically affirms that these allegations are false in their entirety and without any factual foundation.

As the case of Mr. Okah’s involvement in the plotting and execution of terrorist attacks in Nigeria is already before a court of competent jurisdiction in South Africa, the Presidency does not intend to say anymore on the matter for now and will, in accordance with due process and international law, make a full representation on the matter to the court when the trial opens.”