20101018
africanews

Johannesburg — The bail application of Nigerian former militant leader Henry Okah was postponed in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Okah, who testified in his own bail application, would have to wait until Wednesday to hear whether he would be granted bail.

In his testimony, Okah vehemently denied any involvement in twin car bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja, Nigeria on October 1.

State prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told the court that Okah was one of the people involved in sending an email warning of the attack.

"Do you know anyone by the name of Jomo Gbomo or JG?" he asked the 45-year-old Okah.

"No," he responded.

Abrahams quoted from a letter allegedly written by Okah's wife Azuka Okah entitled "A close look at Jomo Gbomo" and said that Gbomo was Okah's pseudonym.

Nigerian authorities traced the emails to Gbomo.

He said the content of the letter revealed Gbomo's activities since 2007, and that her description of the man was actually a description of Okah.

Okah denied this and told the court that his wife was a writer who downloaded a lot of documents from the internet.

The letter, he said, was not originally written by his wife but was downloaded from the internet.

"I put it to you that the email was sent by your brother Charles. The one who was arrested on Saturday," said Abrahams.

Okah said he did not know whether his brother sent the email.

Charles Okah was arrested in Lagos for allegedly being the man behind threats on behalf of the Movement for the Emancipation the Niger Delta (MEND) rebels. The State alleged Henry Okah was the leader of MEND.

His wife also told French news agency AFP that four others -- Okah's son, Boloebi, 23, his son's friend, Sola Ladoja, a house aide and a friend -- were also arrested.

The State had accused Okah of giving instructions for the bombs to be detonated in Abuja.

He faced charges of engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activity, and delivering, placing and detonating an explosive device.

Okah spent most of the third day of his bail application explaining why he had included a list of high calibre weapons in his diary.

The list included anti-tank land mines, machine guns and air missiles.

The State alleged that Okah had intended to buy the weapons as listed.

However Okah dismissed this, saying the list was merely notes he had written while reading warfare books -- for intellectual purposes.

Abrahams grilled Okah about papers found at his house on October 2.

"This is the first time I see this document," Okah said, referring to a document which referred to him as "distinguished businessman, chosen leader of MEND."

He denied this, saying he was an "accepted" leader of the people in the region.

"I am a respected leader of the people of Niger," Okah said.

"Just like Julius Malema, he is accepted here in South Africa as the leader of the youth, he is not the leader of any movement," Okah said of the ANC Youth League leader.

He maintained he was a sympathiser "to the cause," but not of MEND.

Abrahams asked why his wife would refer to him as the leader of MEND in a letter addressed to the media.

"I think she did it for clarity, because a lot of the media refer to me as a leader of MEND."

By Monday afternoon, Okah who had looked confident throughout his cross-examination, became agitated as the State questioned him about a quotation for weapons and his business in the west African country.

Asked to explain why the same weapons were listed in his diary and in the quotation, Okah maintained that the weapons "would be useless in the Niger Delta unrest".

"You wanted to source the material." Abrahams said.

Okah told the court of how he arranged for journalists to go into guerrilla camps.

Abrahams, however, used Okah's statement to emphasise how the militant group, MEND, used the media to communicate its attacks.

Confirming he was a war expert, Okah said he received about 200 calls per day from people concerned about what was happening in the Niger Delta.

He was questioned about his statement from a diary which reads: "We need heavier equipment and money."

He answered that this was a general feeling amongst people who knew what was going on in that region.

The Nigerian national, who has South African citizenship, was testifying in his own bail hearing on Monday.

His bail application would resume on Wednesday.