Okah’s new world

By Ruona Agbroko

October 17, 2010 12:26PM
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The Magistrate’s Court situated at the corner of Fox and Ntemi Piliso (previously West) Streets, Marshalltown, Johannesburg is clearly in the spotlight with the trial of suspected terrorist, Henry Emomotimi Okah.

Officials are not familiar with the name Okah, but immediately point you in the right direction if any sentence you utter has the words “Nigerian”, “bomb” or “terrorist”.

Courtroom 12, where the action is, seats about 30 people.

Occasionally, other cases are heard in between Mr. Okah’s, mainly while the lawyers ask for time to read up on documents or consult with each other. All courts have a basement cell. It is from here the accused are called up before presiding magistrate Hein Louw. Their appearance is preceded by the sound of keys in a lock, and chains jangling from iron doors and human limbs.

Last Friday, there was a drunken lawyer in court; another case involved a harmless-looking old man who allegedly threatened his wife with a firearm.

Humdrum stuff compared to the main business of the day. The minute Mr. Okah’s name is announced, there is tension in the air as proceedings resume.

It is apparent that ordinary Nigerians living in South Africa have not shown an interest in this case. Every day in court has seen just about 10 Nigerians, including people who are apparently Mr. Okah’s relatives and seat very close to his wife, Azuka. They shield her from the newshounds.

Chris Iroala, the Consular officer in charge of the Nigerian community in South Africa has been in court regularly, as well as a man identified as Omeokachie, said to be from the Nigerian High Commission, Pretoria. Only journalists from NEXT and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) represent Nigerian media. The rest are from South Africa’s SABC and ETV, Associated Press, Al-Jazeera, Agence France Presse (AFP), Reuters and France’s Le Monde.

Outside, camera crews regularly wait for hours to have moving and still images of Mr. Okah arriving in court; only Reuters seems to have succeeded with quality images so far.

His diaries

Mr. Okah was casual about the entries when he testified. He said with a shrug; “I have hundreds of books on guerilla warfare, video tapes. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, it is my passion. Some of these things contained in these diaries are notes on those books.”

Okah also said an invoice being used as an exhibit by the prosecution was sent by Niger Delta minister, Godsway Orubebe. He said the Nigerian government sent Orubebe to him with a quote for guns, asking him to help them get a second quote from the South African government and that he told them he wasn’t a contractor.

“I told them I would not help them to buy guns to kill my people,” he said.

On his alleged involvement in bombings, he said: “I am a sympathiser of the cause. That for me is where it ends.” Prior to this, Mr, Okah maintained in an affidavit (read by his lawyer Rudi Krause) that the military uniforms the prosecution maintained it seized from his home were “nothing one cannot buy at any flea market in Johannesburg, this is nothing but unlawful conduct on the part of the SA authorities.”
Mr. Okah’s affidavit also states that his son’s phone was “stolen by the South African Police Services.” This was denied by the Prosecution.

He also told the court he felt the Nigerian government was after his life and that he ran away when South Africa police raided his home. Mr. Okah added that he only returned when his wife, Azuka called him and confirmed that the people at his home in Mendeor, south of Johannesburg were officers of the South African Police Services (SAPS).

“I fled my home,” he said. “The way they came into my home, I believed them to be assassins sent by the Nigerian government.”

Some of the reasons listed by prosecution lawyers for opposing the bail application brought by Mr. Okah, include that: Okah and Jomo Gbomo are one and the same person; ‘the applicant can easily exit this country without a trace;’ ‘the applicant will attempt to intimidate and eliminate witnesses;’ and ‘the applicant faces some of the most shocking charges known to man. , if released on bail and murdered, or escapes justice, the international community will criticise the justice system of the Republic [of South Africa].’ Mr. Abrahams added that the laptops, phones and cards seized from Mr. Okah’s house are still being analysed by the South African Police forensic unit.

Prosecution also maintained that Mr. Okah’s lifestyle and numerous properties are being investigated by police to see if it relates to money laundering, and suggested that Mr. Okah withheld the true status of his wealth when he gave an interview to Al-jazeera claiming he had no money.

Okah’s reply was that he did not use a cell phone as widely speculated, and that he had no idea that he was supposed to seek approval before granting interviews. “I did so with the knowledge of the prison. I asked permission to use the payphones, and I did. I used a Telkom payphone.” Un-sentenced offenders in South Africa are allowed to have personal computers, private portable television and radio players, telephone calling cards, and other items in prisons.

When called up to cross-examine Mr. Okah, prosecution lawyer Shaun Abrahams said the state was not ready to do so, as it “had no idea” that Mr. Okah was going to testify, and was not prepared. “It would be clutching at straws,” Mr. Abrahams said, asking that the bail application be shifted to Monday.
Though Judge Hein Louw agreed that the prosecution had not been briefed, he said with apparent exasperation; “we can no longer carry this as a preferential matter much longer.”

‘Suspected terrorist’ with a heart

Mrs. Okah is slim-built, and always to be found on the wooden benches facing her husband. She comes with a bag of food and bottled water, every day. Sometimes her hair is neatly tied, at other times it looks like she has other things on her mind to worry about. She is always polite to journalists, often consults with her husband’s lawyer, and seems to be a fan of Nigeria’s Ankara fabric.
But her husband has fears for his wife and has expressed them in his affidavit; “My wife is in danger,” he says.

His worry is apparent. The first thing he does as soon as he is called up to the court room is look to his left and search the room for his wife. On different days, and at different times, he smiles, winks or just looks at her. On the day the diaries were being read, he looked so intently at her that he stumbled on the first step leading to the holding cells.

On Friday 15th October, just as he was led to the holding cells below, Mr. Okah turned to his wife and lifted a finger in admonition; “you haven’t been eating,” he said, his lips forming a quick kiss. She smiled, briefly, and he disappeared. He is expected to return to the court tomorrow, 18 October.


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Who bombed Abuja?

Nigerian government has so farshown incompetence is unraveling ds crime. I think a crime is first solved before prosecution. But we r having prosecution without solid basis. With what I c so far against Okah, he may only end up being charged for some lesser crime and absolved from treason case against him.

While Okah's statement were at best salacious, it will take more dn slandering to acquit himself of d charges and probably more to incriminate d nigerian govt.

It's rather too early to pretend to knw d truth as it is obvious dt both parties knw more than they r currently saying. But the question keeps beggin; WHO BOMBED ABUJA?

okah has always been on point.

GEJ is a thug. He has a hand in the october 1st bombing.
He  has succeeded in diverting attention from finding who the real culprits   are by pressuring the SA government  to hold on to OKAH and prosecute him  without substantial evidence.

OKAH SHOULD BE RELEASED