October 1 Bombing: Court Admits Evidence Against Okah

Posted by George on Wed 28th Oct, 2015 - tori.ng

The court case against a former leader of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta,(MEND)Henry Okah, who was arrested in South Africa following the twin car bombings on independence day in Nigeria, 2010 is advancing.

The accused, Henry Okah

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday admitted as exhibit the statement of one Fatai Isiaka Adeyinka who sold the Mazda car used by the alleged mastermind of the October 1, 2010 bombing in Abuja.

Adeyinka’s statement was admitted by the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, despite vehement objections raised by the defence counsel.

The exhibit was tendered through the Prosecution Witness, Chukwuma Igwe, a staff of the Department of State Security Service who also informed the court that he took Adeyinka’s statement.

Igwe told the court that he was instructed by his boss, Abdul Abubakar, to take the statement when Fatai Adeyinka, an illiterate told them that he could not read and write in English language. “We communicated in pidgin English. I wrote what he told me in English language in the statement after I cautioned him. I read the content of his statement and interpreted it in pidgin English language to him.”

Igwe further told the court that he took Adeyinka and his statement to Abubakar who also read it and asked him to interpret it in pidgin English language which he did before the statement was signed by Adeyinka and himself.

But the defence counsel, A. Ozodiri,SAN, and O. Otemu, who represented Charles Okah and Obi Nwabueze, respectively, said that Adeyinka’s statement was not admissible through the witness because they could not cross examine him on the content of the statement.