Henry Okah

Henry Okah (born 1965, Lagos State, Nigeria) is the presumed Nigerian guerrilla leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which he denies.

Overview MEND has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, often through the use of sabotage, guerilla warfare or kidnapping of foreign oil workers. The rebels' goal is to destabilize the foreign oil interest in the Niger Delta, who the rebels claim to be exploiting the local populace. MEND announced its founding in early 2006 with several attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure that have cut daily production by about one quarter, He claimed to be "championing the disenfranchised residents of the Delta region, who see little benefit from the oil being pumped out from under them." Senior MEND official "General" Boyloaf claimed that, if Okah was set free, the organization would indeed lay down its arms. Jomo Gbomo, a spokesman of the organization, supported Okah's decision, since his health was failing.

Okah was again arrested in Johannesburg on Saturday, October 2, following the 2010 Nigeria's Independence Day attacks that killed 12 people. He "claims that he knows nothing of any of these bombings."

On Monday, January 21, 2013, a South African court convicted Okah of 13 charges of terrorism, including bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010. Handing down the verdict, Judge Nels Claassen said, "I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused." Okah was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment and is currently serving this sentence at the Ebongweni Correctional Centre in Kokstad, South Africa. Throughout the trial he maintained his innocence, saying the trial was a result of his denial of support for Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan's statements and accusations that the October 1st Independence Day attacks were executed by leaders from Northern Nigeria.

Following a court trial on March 7, 2018, Charles Okah, his brother, was found guilty of masterminding the independence day attack and was handed a life sentence.