The embattled leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah, has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the order for his secret trial
Okah is being held over allegations of treason and gun running levelled against him by the Federal Government.
The government, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, had obtained the order to conduct the trial of Okah and another member of MEND, Edward Atatah, in camera.
Before obtaining the order, the Federal Government had filed a 14-count charge against Okah and Atatah.
The charge comprised allegations of plotting to overthrow some governments of West African states and theft of arms and ammunition from the Federal Government.
Other allegations include acts of sabotage against oil installations; complicity in bank robberies; hiring of mercenaries; kidnapping; hostage taking; piracy; and killing of foreign personnel.
But in the processes filed at the Federal High Court on Tuesday through their lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, Okah and Atatah urged the court to vacate the trial and make their trial open.
The accused persons alleged that they were yet to receive copies of the charges filed against them.
Okah and Atatah said the Federal Government was seeking the order for secret trial �to commit some atrocities during their trial.�
They added that since the government had told the whole world that the accused persons were gunrunners and planning to topple governments, it would be fair to make their trial open and allow the public conscience to judge the proceedings.
The accused persons said all past leaders of the Niger Delta region who had been tried, like Ken Saro-Wiwa and Isaac Adaka, were tried in the open and that it would be in the public interest if their own trial was held under the same circumstances.
Their applications obtained by our correspondent read in part, �The planned secret trial of the accused/applicants is meant to cover up the atrocities of the Federal Government and the oil companies in the Niger Delta.
�They (the accused) had no prior notice of the application made by the Director of Public Prosecutions for their trial in camera. The charge filed by the respondent was also not accompanied with proof of evidence.
�The respondent did not satisfy the court why the public trial of the accused/applicants will not be in the public interest.�
Okah and Atatah were arrested in Angola by the Angolan police in September 2007 over alleged arms and explosives trafficking for militant activities.
They were later handed over to the State Security Service in Nigeria on February 14, 2008 and have since been in custody.
Meanwhile, the MEND on Tuesday disassociated itself from the proposed Niger Delta Peace Summit by the Federal Govenment slated for this month in Abuja.
MEND�s spokesman, Mr. Jomo Gbomo, made this known in an email to our correspondent.
The group said the planned summit lacked sincerity. He also faulted the absence of Okah from the discussion.
Part of the statement reads, �Those so-called elders, compromised militants and youth leaders, who are clamouring for handouts and recognition from Abuja by accepting to attend, are doing so for their selfish interests.
�MEND can assure that if the summit does hold, it will be just another circus that will end in failure as key issues will not be addressed and those that will participate do not have the capacity to guarantee an enduring peace.�