MOVEMENT for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) says it does not know the Sunny Bowei Okah, said to a brother to Henry Okah, who the 10-man General Court Martial (GCC) that recently sentenced Major Suleiman Akubo and five other soldiers to life jail claimed bought 7,000 arms of different descriptions at about N100 million from the convicted persons for use by Niger-Delta militants.
“We have never heard this name before neither have we seen him with Henry. We are equally surprised because this name was not mentioned in the charge sheet against Henry, MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, stated in a response to an electronic mail inquiry by Sunday Vanguard on the true identity of the said Sunny Bowei Okah, weekend.
According to him, the conviction of the “innocent” soldiers “is a prelude to a devilish plot to convict Henry before even his trial begins.” The militant group, which admitted in a press statement on Wednesday that it was in possession of guns seized from Nigerian soldiers and those abandoned by the military men during encounters with its fighters, however, stated that the it had no plans to return the arms collected from the Nigerian military because it views it as “a legitimate transfer to its rightful owners from whose resources they were bought”.
Proper inventory
Jomo Gbomo’s words, “Even our inept armed forces do not know the exact number of weapons that they have because many of these were bought for contracts sake with inflated invoices. They do not have proper inventory and as such are speculating. We know the number of weapons in every camp and these do not tally with the figures given by the army”. Excerpts of the MEND’s spokesman with Sunday Vanguard:
Does the MEND suspect that the life sentence handed out to Major Akubo and five other soldiers by the General Court Martial (GCM) is a clever plot by the government to lay a background for a possible decision to find Henry Okah guilty or jail him for life as well?
It is a prelude to a devilish plot to convict Henry before even his trial begins. He was even forced yesterday (Thursday) in Abuja to repeat tests already done to falsify the previous results but we learnt that Henry refused to take the tests but insisted on further tests as directed by the court.
The chief charges against Henry Okah is that he supplied arms to militants, which he bought from military personnel and other sources for the purpose of terrorism and treason. Who is the Sonny Bowei Okah that has been introduced in the saga?
We have never heard this name before neither have we seen him with Henry. We are equally surprised because this name was not mentioned in the charge sheet against Henry.
Henry Okah is supposed to go for medical attention as ordered by the court, but, it is not really clear whether he has undergone any treatment so far on his health as requested by his family and lawyers. What are the stumbling blocks and his state of health now?
The specialist from the government suggested a further test outside the country considering the poor state of Henry’s health, but, to date, we understand he has been chained like a dog inside a dungeon without any medical treatment for the same ailment President Yar’Adua sneaks out of the country to treat.
Don’t you think the six soldiers were not charged for treason as you wondered in your press statement because they, allegedly, sold guns to Sonny Okah but didn’t know what the guns were to be used for?
How many drug pushers know the end-users, yet they are in some countries given capital punishment? The whole trial and story is fraught with lies.
Numberr of weapons
Are you saying categorically that the MEND never bought guns from Nigerian soldiers except those it seized or abandoned by soldiers during encounters? If so, did it seize up to 7,000 guns as now alleged to have been disposed off by the GCM? What is the estimate of the number seized by MEND between 2000 and 2006? What are the categories of the seized guns? Are they really the type that will be used to wage the kind of war the group is waging in the Niger-Delta against the Nigerian nation?
Even our inept armed forces do not know the exact number of weapons that they have because many of these were bought for contracts sake with inflated invoices. They do not have proper inventory and as such are speculating. We know the number of weapons in every camp and these do not tally with the figures given by the army.
You have admitted that some guns were seized or abandoned, whatever it is, which means they do not belong to the MEND. Does the MEND intend to return the guns to the military as a way of disarmament?
The military operations in the region is punitive, therefore, we consider any weapon collected from them as a legitimate transfer to its rightful owners from whose resources they were bought. We have no plans of returning them and plan to continue dispossessing them for more. Disarmament will only happen after a proper peace process, which must involve Henry Okah.