Nigeria charges oil delta rebel Okah with treason

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has charged Henry Okah, suspected leader of the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, with treason and he risks the death penalty, the country’s top prosecutor said on Wednesday.

The MEND was behind a wave of attacks on the Nigerian oil industry in early 2006 that forced the closure of a fifth of oil output from Africa’s biggest producer, contributing to the surge in oil prices on international markets.


Okah, a Nigerian, was arrested in Angola in September and handed over to Nigeria on February 14. He has not been seen in public since his return, which has raised tensions in the delta.

An associate arrested and handed over at the same time, Edward Atatah, faces some of the same charges as Okah.

The MEND’s attacks subsided markedly in 2007 and delta activists say the government’s decision to detain and prosecute Okah is not helping tentative peace talks launched last year.

Reuters