UNDEDSS Demand Bail For Charles Okah, Others

The United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS) on Thursday appealed to a Federal High Court, Abuja, to release Charles Okah and three others on bail, on health grounds.

Okah, Obi Nwabueze, Edmund Ebiware and Tiemkemfa Francis Osvwo, a.k.a Gen. Gbokos, are being tried over their alleged involvement in the twin bomb blasts that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

Our correspondent reports that the Abuja court on March 14 heard that Okah, the younger brother of Henry Okah, former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was critically ill and hospitalised in Kuje Prison.

“Our demands are subsequent to the alarming death of one of the suspects, Francis Osuwo a.k.a. Gen. Gbokos, and the (badly) deteriorated state of health of the three others, especially the primary suspect, Okah.

“Okah, appeared in court on Wednesday in such a state that would strongly suggest that he has suffered a stroke, hence the need to immediately grant all three surviving suspects bail and be allowed to attend future court sittings from home or hospital,” UNDEDSS said in a statement signed by its Secretary, Tony Uranta.

Uranta said that Okah and others deserved to be granted bail, just like a Senator who was strongly suspected to be a major financier of the Boko Haram sect got bail.

“The nation’s laws, penalties and rules must apply same way to citizens, no matter their status or where they came from,” it pointed out.