Tarila
Okah, the daughter of the suspected mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day
bombing, Charles Okah, has written an open letter to President Buhari.
In the
letter, Tarila accused the judiciary of frustrating
her father's trial as the presiding judge or the prosecuting counsels are
always absent whenever he is to appear in court. Tarila, who says she will be
getting married in the next few weeks, expressed sadness that her Dad will not
be there to walk her down the aisle and share in her joy.
She prevailed on
President Buhari to look into her father's case. Read full text of her letter below...
Your
Excellency,
His
Excellency,
President
Muhammadu Buhari
President,
Commander-in-Chief
Federal
Republic of Nigeria
Dear
President Buhari,
I
hope this letter reaches you in good health. My name is Tarila Okah, daughter
of Mr. Charles Okah, who is currently remanded at Kuje Prison and standing
trial before Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolawole at the Federal High Court in Abuja
over the 2010 Independence Day bomb incident.
Mr.
President, I am writing this letter principally to draw your attention, the
entire people of Nigeria, and members of the international community to what I
perceive as injustice being willfully and maliciously meted to my father by the
Nigerian state.
Within the last 10 months, disturbing media reports about his
attempt to commit suicide at the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 6, 2015
and his failing health are sad reminders of the harsh reality of my father’s
frustration with the judicial system in Nigeria, which is notorious for elastic
trials that can drag on for years on end and wear out all parties. It is rather
unfortunate that several court dates in the course of my father’s trial have
been cancelled either because the presiding Trial Judge had a conference to
attend or for other reasons that brings disrepute to the Nigerian justice
system.
For instance, the Prosecutor Dr. Alex Izinyon, a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria failed to attend one of the trials on a date that had been agreed upon
beforehand, instead choosing to attend his child’s graduation ceremony abroad.
With
all due respect, Mr. President, no democratic Government anywhere in the world,
including Canada where I currently reside, would treat a prisoner’s attempt at
suicide as well as the prisoner’s failing health, with disdain. Such a peculiar
prisoner’s case ought to be concluded speedily by the Judiciary. Alternatively,
such a Prisoner of Conscience as my father, should be granted bail. However,
from all indications, the Nigerian Government is clearly insensitive to his
plight.
Your
Excellency, I have consulted with several Nigerian lawyers who have
sufficiently educated me that, pursuant to Section 162 of the new Criminal
Justice Administration Law in the country, my father is entitled to bail;
having spent more than 3 years in prison custody. Nevertheless, Hon. Justice
Gabriel Kolawole has on two previous occasions overruled my father’s
applications for bail.
However, the pace of the trial has still not been picked
up. Meanwhile, Justice Kolawole in 2011
easily granted bail to Senator Ali Ndume who was standing trial for terrorism
as an alleged sponsor of Boko Haram. Today, after being re-elected on the
platform of your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ndume is
the Majority Leader of Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate, while
my father (who is equally as important to society) is still languishing in
prison as an inmate awaiting trial; almost 6 years after he was first arrested
on October 16, 2010 on suspicion of being “JOMO GBOMO,” the spokesman for the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
Interestingly,
Nigerian media perception about my father’s culpability in the Independence Day
bomb incident keeps changing. At first, he was accused of being the
spokesperson of MEND. Later, he was described as an accomplice to the alleged
crime; after the media and the Nigerian Government realised that ‘Jomo Gbomo’
was still releasing statements on behalf of MEND, even as my father was firmly
held in custody! Now he is accused of being the mastermind.
Thus
far, the prosecution has relied heavily on ‘witnesses’, all of whom have
contradicted their statements under cross examination. In a recent court
sitting, a witness from the Department of State Security (DSS) who introduced
himself as a ‘Crime Scene Investigator’ admitted that, “no evidence was
collected at the crime scene”. While another witness who supposedly ‘sold’ a
Mazda car to the 2nd Defendant, admitted under cross-examination that, the very
first time he set his eyes on the said Mazda car (Exhibit 2) was “at the
premises of the DSS Abuja Headquarters.”
Without
prejudice to his ongoing trial before Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolawole, I honestly
believe that my father is innocent of the crimes alleged against him. Over the
6 year period of his incarceration and trial, his businesses which employed
many Nigerians have collapsed; his family is in disarray.
Years apart,
especially under such circumstances, often dissolves the emotional bonds between
a husband and his wife, and for my much younger siblings who have now spent
more time without their father, there are virtually no emotional bonds to be
dissolved.
On
a more personal note, I will be getting married in a few weeks; albeit without
the privilege of having my beloved father walk me down the aisle – the dream of
every daughter. I feel an admixture of joy and pain as this day approaches
knowing that my father is alive but held somewhere unjustly.
Clearly, my
siblings and I are being punished vicariously by the Nigerian state over crimes
allegedly committed by our father which have not been proven beyond reasonable
doubt by a court of competent jurisdiction. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, the mere
act of filing even trumped-up charges carries along with it a strong
presumption of guilt, which has led to my father’s conviction in the court of
public opinion and has also led to the abuse of his fundamental human rights.
I
know that some Nigerians, on reading this open letter, will attack me for daring
to appeal for my father’s freedom. But my message to those compatriots is
simple: it is high time we focused on finding the real perpetrators.
Finally,
Mr. President, in your determined quest to fight corruption in Nigeria, I
believe that the concept of corruption should be expanded beyond financial
crimes. We must also fight corruption in the system, and in this case, the
judicial system. We have witnessed the speedy handling of cases involving high
profile politicians, but a very sluggish process for others. The joy of my
upcoming marriage plus the pain of a missing father (who is alive) equates to
the simple plea: #PLEASEFREECHARLESOKAH!
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