MEND LEADER DETAINED OVER ARMS DEAL, WIFE CONFIRMS

The Leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah, is being detained in Angola on arms trafficking charges, his wife, Mrs. Azuka Okah told Reuters on Saturday.

“He was boarding a plane from Angola and two days later I got a call saying he was detained for money-laundering and arms trafficking,” she told Reuters from their home in Johannesburg.

She said she suspected the Nigerian government was behind the arrest and thought the government was trying to weaken him. Angolan and Nigerian officials have declined to comment on the matter.

Okah’s MEND staged a string of bombings of oil facilities and kidnapping of foreign workers from late 2005 to early this year, but has mostly observed a ceasefire since President Umaru Yar’Adua took office in May to allow talks to go ahead.

Okah said her husband was in Angola to inspect a ship he was hoping to buy and was on his way back to South Africa when he was arrested.

She said he was involved with MEND and that senior Nigerian officials, including Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, had visited him to discuss bringing peace to the Niger Delta.

Meanwhile, Henry Okah, who is also known as the Gbomo Jomo on Sunday, accused the Federal Government and the Angolan government of framing him up in Luanda.

In a document signed by Gbomo, which was made available to our correspondent in Port Harcourt, Okah said he was arrested with another Nigerian at the Luanda Airport on September 3, while returning from South Africa on a business trip.

He stated that the Federal Government colluded with some major multinational oil companies to arrest and detain him on trump-up charges.

The statement indicated that Gbomo and his colleague were led away from their luggage by security agents under the pretext of searching them for excess Angolan currency.

Part of the document read, “By the time they returned, officials claimed they found some alleged incriminating literature written in Portuguese, a language none of the men speak inside Henry’s hand luggage.”

“On the two court appearances following the arrest, the judge threw the case out for lack of merit.

“After this frame-up failed, another case was quickly manufactured, this time that he should be repatriated to Equitoreal Guinea to face charges of sponsoring a failed coup attempt.

“This we consider ludicrous considering he was never declared wanted by that government or even the interpol before this time. Henry Okah is not aware that there was even a coup attempt in Equitoreal Guinea.”

MEND therefore warned those behind the plot to desist from re-enacting the Ken Saro Wiwa frame-up, stating that such attempt would not succeed.