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Nigeria: Niger-Delta FG Drops Treason Charge Against Rebel Leader
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Leadership (Abuja)
4 May 2008
Posted to the web 5 May 2008
Michael Oche
The federal government has dropped the treason charges against one of the two accused rebel leaders in the Niger Delta region, even as it rejected a bid to have an open trial for the remaining suspect.
Henry Okah and Edward Atatah have been on trial for treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking in a federal high court in the city of Jos.
According to their lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), the charges against Atatah were dropped during last Friday's hearing, but he was not immediately released.
Unlike his counterpart, MEND's leader, Henry Okah, had his application for an open trial on camera rejected by the court.
"The trial judge rejected our application that the trail should be open. We are going to appeal the ruling," Falana said.
The trail took place amid heavy security and no journalist was allowed to cover proceedings but Judge Stephen Ada said journalists would be briefed after each session.
A high court in Abuja had earlier granted a request by federal prosecutors that Okah and Atatah who have been detained since their extraction from Angola in February should be tried in camera.
Until his arrest in September last year, Okah is thought to have been MEND's main spokesman. Little, however, is known of Atatah's alleged activities.
MEND has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks against oil companies and government targets in the past two years.
In an e-mail statement to journalists, MEND said it was disappointed but not surprised at the ruling. "We expect that his lawyers will contest this absurd ruling in the appeal court," it said.
The court fixed June 10 for next hearing.
Meanwhile, a day after a Nigerian court ordered a secret trial for the leader of the movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) Henry Okah, militants attacked three oil wells operated by Dutch oil giant, Shell, shutting in unknown amount of crude oil.
The attacks took place at Diobu Creek flowstation at Peremabiri in Southern Ijaw area of Bayelsa State. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, as at the time of filing this report.
A shell spokesman said a few oil delivery lines are affected and some oil have spilled into the environment.
"We are mobilizing containment booms to stop the spread of oil and have shut in some productive volumes," he said.
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MEND had warned that it will respond to Friday's ruling against Okah by attacking the country's oil infrastructure.
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