September 21, 2007
"On Monday, September 3, 2007 at about 1400hrs Angola time, two Nigerians were arrested at the Luanda airport on their return to South Africa from a business trip where they had gone to inquire about the purchase of a fishing trawler. One of the individuals Henry Okah, a silent player in the Niger Delta struggle and part of the on-going peace process was framed by the Nigerian government in collaboration with some oil majors notably Chevron who have always seen his position as uncompromising. According to Henry's account, they were led away from their hand luggages under the pretext that the checked-in luggages had to be searched for excess foreign currency leaving Angola. By the time they returned, officials claimed they found some alleged incriminating literature written in Portuguese, a language none of the men speak inside Henry’s hand luggage. On the two court appearances following the arrest, the judge threw the case out for lack of merit. After this frame-up failed, another case was quickly manufactured, this time that he should be repatriated to Equatorial Guinea to face charges of sponsoring a failed coup attempt. This we consider ludicrous considering he was never declared wanted by that government or even the interpol before this time. Henry Okah is not aware that there was even a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. The movement for the emancipation of the Niger Delta wishes to serve as a warning to those behind this plot; that a repeat of the Ken Saro Wiwa type set-up will fail this time around. For the sake of the on-going peace process the Nigerian security agencies, the multinational oil and construction companies, and their local and foreign collaborators should not take actions that will jeopardize the peace process and take us back to an era everyone is moving away from. commanders and fighters of mend are watching the unfolding conspiracy closely. There will no doubt be very unpleasant and dire consequences if this matter is not handled with fairness."
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