Okah Knows Fate, Today

Justice Neels Claaseen of the South Guateng High Court, Johannesburg, says he will deliver judgment in Henry Okah’s case today.

Claaseen told both the Prosecution and Defence counsels at the hearing of mitigation of sentence on Okah yesterday that he would deliver judgment after the submissions of both counsels on Wednesday.

Ourr correspondent  reports that Okah, a fractional leader of the Movement of Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), was found guilty of 13 count-charge of conspiracy to commit terrorism, by masterminding two car bomb attacks in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

At the hearing for mitigation of sentence yesterday, a defence witness and a Pastor, Filonus Ekiyor, described Okah as a man of peace.

“My lord, I have known Okah for about 30 years through his elder brother Charles. Henry is a man of peace, is not a man of violence.

“He is a generous man who gives scholarship to poor children to be educated. Certainly, he is not a man of violence,’’ Ekiyor said.

He said the arrest and trial of Okah was political rather than a criminal case.

“Okah is loved and respected by people in the Niger Delta. He relates with the people in the search to find a peaceful solution to the Niger Delta crisis. Niger Delta problem is a crisis of underdevelopment.