Bombing: Okah’s allegation rocks Nigeria

Okah, who is facing trial in South Africa over the attacks, made the allegation in an interview with Al Jazeera, which was widely publicised on Tuesday.

An embarrassed presidency was forced to deny the allegation on Tuesday evening, calling it an ‘outright lie’ and slamming Okah as a suspected ‘mass murderer’.

But the denial has done little to assuage the rising anger in the North, where a political group – Northern Political Leaders Forum – has asked the President to resign by the end of the week or be removed by the Nation al Assembly.

‘Now that the President has proven that he is incapable of leading the nation justly and fairly and that he is desperate enough to want to hang mass murder around the neck of unnamed northers to achieve his second term, we as citizens of this country have totally lost confidence in his leadership and hereby call on him to immediately resign.

‘If he fails to do so by the end of the week, we call on the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against him with immediate effect,’ the group, led by former Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma, said in a stat ement.

The four Northern candidates seeking the presidential ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alongside Jonathan – former military President Ibrahim Babangida, former VP Atiku Abubakar, former National Security Adviser Aliyu Gusau and Gov. Bukoka Saraki – have also demanded an independent probe into the allegation

‘It is apparent that the present bellicose posture of the government stems from a deep sense of desperation, which has already been given eloquence testimony by the curious exoneration of MEND as the authors of the bomb blast by President Jonathan,’ they said in a joint statement.

They also expressed anger that the campaign chief of one of the aspirants, media mogul Raymond Dokpesi, was arrested and questioned over the bomb blast that killed 10 and injured 36 near the Eagle Square venue of the celebrati ons marking the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence last Friday.

The rhetoric has keyed into the political tension in the country ahead of next year’s general elections.

The tension was caused by President Jonathan’s decision to contest next year, even though the PDP has zoned the office to the North. Jonathan is from the South.

On Wednesday, the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) added fuel to the fire when it said Okah’s allegation calls into question the credibility of the presidency, and demanded an independent commission of inquiry to probe it.

‘Because the allegation is so grave and has dire implication for the country’s stability, we ask the presidency to use diplomatic means to request and obtain from South Africa the call log for Okah in the past week, as a first step in what sho uld be a thorough investigation of the claim. Dismissing it as an ‘outright lie’ by a ‘drowing man’ may not be that effective.

‘Also, we challenge Okah to identify the presidential aide who called him, if indeed he is not just trying to get back at the presidency with such weighty allegation,’ the party said. ‘If all these efforts fail, there may be need to appoint an ind ependent commission of inquiry to investigate the claim, in view of its potentially-destabilising implication.’

Analysts said the President’s hasty exoneration of MEND, the militant group from his oil-producing Niger Delta region, over the Abuja blast was a tactical mistake, and that it seems to lend some credence to Okah’s claim that he (President) wanted to implicate his Northern opponents.

‘It was very unpresidential for Jonathan to single-handedly exonerate MEND when investigations have not been concluded, and even when the group has claimed responsibility and apologised for the loss of lives. Perhaps the President knows what Nigerians don’t, but he should have been more careful,’ an analyst said.