Nigeria’s new minister for the Niger Delta on Wednesday dismissed appeals by supporters of detained militant leader Henry Okah for him to be sent abroad for medical treatment.
“It appears like one of those tricks to escape justice … It is only when the ailment is life-threatening and confirmed that it can’t be treated in Nigeria that such a request can be considered,” minister Ufot Ekaette told Reuters.
Okah, who is on trial for treason and gun-running, is the suspected leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks on oil facilities have cut the OPEC member’s output by more than a fifth in recent years.
Lawyers and relatives say the 43-year-old, who still commands support from several well-armed factions in the Niger Delta, is seriously ill and needs urgent treatment not available in Nigeria for a kidney ailment.
MEND has made Okah’s release a condition for suspending its campaign of sabotage. Prosecutors have said he is fit enough to stand trial.
“Henry Okah has not even disclosed his ailment to government for us to find out whether it is an ailment that can’t be treated in the country to warrant going abroad,” Ekaette said.
MEND claims to be fighting for a fairer share of the wealth in the Niger Delta.
MEND has said it will hold two British oil workers kidnapped more than five months ago until Okah is freed. The group also said last month it was ending a 5-month old ceasefire and warned of a “sweeping assault” on the oil and gas industry.
Some activists in the delta have expressed hope that the creation last year of a Niger Delta Ministry, headed by Ekaette who is from the delta state of Akwa Ibom, would signal a more conciliatory approach by the government.