Federal High Court, on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced Mr. Charles Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bomb blast that left twelve persons dead at the Eagle Square in Abuja, to life imprisonment.
The court, in a judgment that lasted over fives hours, equally found Okah’s alleged accomplice, Mr. Obi Nwabueze, guilty and also handed him a life sentence.
Trial Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that 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 their 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 Hala, 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 out of the eight count charges FG 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 validly explain what the sums of N1.2million and N2million that Henry released to them in 2010, was used for.