Seriki Adinoyi
4 July 2009
Jos — The order given to the Minister of Interior, Major-General Godwin Abbey (rtd) by President Umaru Yar'Adua to visit the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, for discussion on the amnesty offer by the federal government has not been complied with, his lawyer claims.
Yesterday, at the Federal High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, when the trial of the accused was supposed to continue, the lead counsel to Okah, Femi Falana, raised the issue of amnesty purported to have been granted to his client.
He said since government had sorted out the issue of amnesty, the accused needed to remain alive for either the amnesty or trial since the visit of the Interior Minister to Okah had not been carried out.
Falana told the court that government should either take the accused who is having kidney problem abroad for treatment or to release him to the parents and make them sign an undertaking to produce him for trial in line with the provisions of the Prison Act.
But the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Salihu Aliyu, informed the court that government had contacted some countries about the treatment but they were not willing to accept to treat Okah.
He added that as a result of their refusal, government had therefore decided to import the equipment and bring in the medical experts to treat him in Nigeria.
Falana, at this juncture, told the court that the DPP had not told them of the said effort claimed to have been made in the circumstance. He said based on the information at his disposal, most of the said countries were of the view that if government was bringing in any person for treatment, government should bear the responsibility.
Aliyu at this point stood up and assured the court that amnesty would be extended to the accused if he was prepared to meet the conditions of the government.In his ruling on the arguments between the two parties, Liman, gave government one week within which to conclude all the necessary arrangements for the proper treatment of the accused, adding that failure to do that, the court would have to consider the argument of the defence. He adjourned the case to July 17.
Okah is a three-count charge of treason, treasonable felony and conspiracy on trial at the Jos court. Everyone had expected that the case which was adjourned to yesterday going to be a formality by counsels of both parties since amnesty has been extended to Okah. But they were proved wrong when Okah was conveyed to the court in the usual tight security showing that the trial still continues.
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