The defense counsel for Henry Okah, leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has demanded that the trial of his client be transferred to Yenegoa, the Bayelsa state capital in the Niger Delta, because he said the Federal High Court in Jos, Plateau State, in north-central Nigeria lacks the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Okah is being tried at the Federal High Court in Jos on a 62- count charge brought by the federal government, which include; offences of treason, terrorism, kidnapping, illegal importation of arms and ammunition, illegal trafficking in arms and ammunition, illegal possession and storage of prohibited goods, management of unlawful society, incitement of soldiers to commit traitorous act against the federal government.
In an affidavit in support of the motion to transfer the case, Wednesday, in Jos, Okah’s defence counsel, Mr. Wilson Ajuwa, said that “the exparte order for the secret trial of the accused was made by the Abuja division of the Federal High Court at the instance of the respondent, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr. Salihu Aliyu”.
He added that it was “contrary to the order of the court that the venue of the trial of this case be jointly decided by the parties, it was the Attorney-General of the Federation who chose the Jos division of the Federal High Court without the knowledge or consent of the accused and his counsel.”
He said, “the offences against the accused by the respondent are alleged to have taken place in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State.” Therefore he said as Yenegoa has a judicial division of the Federal High Court and that a majority of the witnesses to be called by the accused were based in Bayelsa State.