The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, Wednesday, convicted and sentenced Mr. Charles Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bomb blast that left 12 persons dead at the Eagle Square in Abuja, to life imprisonment.
The elder Okah had been sentenced for a similar crime in South Africa, where he was based.
The court, in a judgment that lasted over five hours, equally found Okah’s alleged accomplice, Mr. Obi Nwabueze, guilty and also handed him a life sentence.
Trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, held that the oral and documentary evidence the Federal Government tendered before the court, connected the defendants to the October 1, 2010, bomb blast.
He held that the prosecution proved the terrorism charge against the defendants beyond every reasonable doubt.
The court said there was evidence that convicted former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Mr. Henry Okah, released funds the defendants used to purchase cars that were used to detonate bombs in Delta State on March 15 and in Abuja on October 1, 2010.
While the court noted that two out of six cars that Henry ordered to be purchased, a Mazda 626 and a Honda, were wired with dynamites and deployed to the Eagle Square in Abuja, it stressed that evidence revealed that one of the cars was used for the bomb explosion that rocked a post-amnesty programme that was organised by Vanguard Newspaper in Warri, Delta State.
It found Charles, who is younger brother to the ex-MEND leader, and Nwabueze guilty on five of the eight counts the Federal Government entered against them.
Justice Kolawole maintained that the defendants failed to convince the court, through credible evidence, that they were not involved in the acts of terrorism they were charged with.
He said the defendants could not explain what the N1.2 million and N2 million that Henry released to them in 2010, was used for.
In his judgment, Justice Kolawole held that evidence before the court showed that the second defendant, Nwabueze, made himself available as a foot soldier to be used for evil errands that earned him monetary rewards.
The court observed that Nwabueze had, in his confessional statement entered into evidence as Exhibit 2D1 to D9, admitted that he was contracted to construct special compartments in the cars where the IEDs were fixed.
Defence counsel beg
Meanwhile, before the sentence was passed, Mr. Emeka Okafor and Oghenovo Otemu, the defence lawyers, pleaded the court to temper justice with mercy.
They urged the court to consider that their clients had no previous criminal records and have been in prison custody for over eight years.
Okah told the court that he has an aged mother and kids that depended on him for survival.
Relying on Section 311 and 401 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Okah, prayed the court to mitigate his sentence, vowing not to engage in any form of criminality again.
Prosecution
However, Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), government lawyer, asked the court to impose the full sanction that was provided by the law, insisting that conduct of the defendants during the trial was enough to deny them any form of favourable discretion from the court.
He insisted that family of the victims deserved justice, adding that imposing the full sentence would serve as deterrent to other militants.
After he had listened to all the parties, Justice Kolawole said he had to place the section under which the defendants were charged, above every other consideration.
He said the court would be seen as acting capriciously if it imposes lighter sentence on Okah and Nwabueze after their co-accused, Ebiware, got life imprisonment over the same offence.
He ordered that the military kits seized from the defendants be handed over to the Director General of department of State Services, DSS.
