Falana to defend MEND leader in court

Bolaji Ogundele, Port Harcourt - 21.02.2008

Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has accepted to repre-sent the leader of the Movement for the Emanci-pation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah. Also, the group has demanded a more solid proof of government’s claims on Okah’s state of health.

MEND had on Tuesday raised the alarm over a rumour that Okah, who was recently extradited by the Angolan authorities to Nigeria on charges of gun-running, had been killed during interrogation by Nigerian security agents.

But the security agencies and the government had reacted to the speculations, saying that the report was untrue and that Okah was still alive and in good health.

A statement posted online on Wednesday by Jomo Gbomo on behalf of MEND demanded that government grant access to Okah by his loved ones, adding that this was the only way they would be convinced that government was saying the truth on the true state of its leader.

“Following the weak denial by the Nigerian government spokesman over the killing of Comrade Henry Okah, the government must go a step further by allowing access to his legal representatives, family, pastor and the International Red Cross or similar body for an independent verification that he is alive and never been tortured.

“It was very irresponsible of the Federal Government in the first place to receive him and the other individual and then keep mute”, it stated.
The group also said Falana, who defended the executed activist and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, in his case against Nigeria in 1995, had accepted to defend Okah in his trial.