Militant Leader Henry Okah Secures Release
A
leader of the main militant group in Nigeria’s Niger
Delta region, the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta, MEND, Henry Okah has been released
as part of government’s amnesty.
His release was effected following
government’s withdrawal of charges against him at
the Federal High Court, Jos, North Central Nigeria.
The MEND leader had been held in
custody since his arrest in Angola in 2007, for
alleged treason and gun-running charges.
Militants in the region had hinged
their suspension of hostilities on the release of
Okah but, surprisingly a few hours after his
release, MEND launched an attack on the country’s
main oil facility at Atlas Cove in Lagos.
However, on Wednesday MEND announced
a sixty-day ceasefire.
The attack has prompted the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to re-direct
the supply route of petroleum products from the
Atlas Cove.
NNPC’s Group Managing Director,
Alhaji Barkindo has given an assurance that despite
the attack, supply of petroleum products to the
South Western states and neighbouring states would
not be disrupted
Monitor/Qasim/Yinka