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Nigeria: Okah, Mend Leader, Appeals Court Ruling
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This Day (Lagos)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Davidson Iriekpen
Lagos
The leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Mr Henry Okah, has appealed the ruling of the Federal High Court in Jos presided over by Justice Stephen Adah, declaring that the lower court's ruling was delivered against the weight of argument made before it.
Okah, who is standing trial at the Federal High Court, Jos, was charged with treason, terrorism and gun running. He was also charged with illegal oil bunkering, kidnapping, piracy, and financing of militant activities.
Also in the charge sheet was that he travelled to Angola where he was arrested while negotiating for the purchase of gunboats and ground-to-air missiles for use to destabilise Nigeria.
Another charge involved allegations of a plot to overthrow some governments in West Africa and the theft of weapons and ammunition from Nigerian armouries.
Sequel to an exparte application dated March 12, 2008, brought by the Federal Government through the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, S. Aliyu and counsel to the Federal Government, S. H. Barkum, a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Jusitce Binta Nyako had ordered the Federal Government to arraign Henry Okah and his accomplice, Edward Atatate in camera. It said the order was in the interest of national security and safety of personnel.
Okah is asking the court to set aside the ruling of the lower court delivered on May 2, 2008, and also set aside the plea of "Not Guilty" entered for the appellant by the learned trial judge.
In a six-ground appeal filed on May 5 on behalf of the MEND leader by his counsel, Mr. Femi Falana, Okah sought two principal reliefs from the Court of Appeal.
Okah prayed the appellate court to "set aside the ruling of the lower court delivered on May 2, 2008".
He also prayed the court to "set aside the plea of 'Not Guilty' entered for the appellant by the learned trial judge".
Okah in ground one, said the learned judge erred in law when he held that the order ex-parte for the secret trial of the Appellant made by Binta Nyako J. on 12th March, 2008 was "an interim order even if not specified".
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In grounds two, he argued that the learned trial judge erred in law when he granted the application of the Respondent for his trial in camera.
He argued that the application was incompetent as it was not by a Minister of the Government of the Federation as stipulated by Section 36(4) of the Constitution, and that the affidavit evidence in support of the application for secret trial offends Sections 86 and 87 of the Evidence Act.
He further contended that there was no evidence that any minister of government of the federation or commissioner of the government of a state satisfied the learned trial judge that it would not be in the public interest for the trial of the Appellant to be publicly disclosed, adding the order for the trial of the Appellant in camera was not made "in the public interest" pursuant to Section 36 of the Constitution.
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