From Nasir Elrufai website
Dear readers, I wanted
to share with you this letter from Charles Okah, who is currently held in prison
where he has been pressured to fabricate accusations against critics of the
government and subjected to the worse kind of abuse. His story speaks for
itself. – Nasir El-Rufai.
Continue reading after the cut...
Charles T. Okah
Single Cell Block
Kuje Prison
Abuja, Nigeria.
His Eminence
Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie
c/o Catholic Church Secretariat
Lagos, Nigeria.
Your Eminence:
October 1 2010 Bomb Blast Setup and Government
Double Standard
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
I hope this letter meets you well. The reasons I choose to direct this letter
to you are that I am a Catholic and you are an old boy of my alma mater, St.
Gregory’s College, Lagos.
I write from Kuje Prison Abuja where two other
Catholics and I have been languishing in solitary confinement for 2 years on
trumped-up charges relating to the October 1, 2010 bomb attack claimed by the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
My name is Charles Tonbra Okah, aka Billy Bones. On
October 16, 2010 my residence in Apapa GRA was invaded by operatives of the
State Security Services on the warrant that I was the suspected spokesman for
MEND using the pseudonym “Jomo Gbomo.” My eldest son, visiting from the United
States where he attends the University of Kansas (KU) was also arrested.
At the SSS Headquarters Abuja where we were flown to
blindfolded with our legs and hands bound, my ‘cooperation’ was solicited for
something completely different to my surprise. My captors threw me a lifeline;
offering me our freedom and a lucrative contract in exchange for false
testimony against my younger brother Henry, who is resident in South Africa. I
was to write a false statement claiming to have been told by Henry about the
bomb plot and naming the following persons as his conspirators: Former Head of
State, General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai,
Chief Timipre Sylva, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. I bluntly refused.
To maintain pressure on me, I was told that my son
would be implicated in the bomb matter, my containers of legitimate imports
then at the Tin Can Port would be impounded and my business destroyed. I still
did not budge, tossing their lifeline back with royal disdain.
When they realized I was not going to connive in
their scheme, they became formal and reverted to the main reason for my arrest.
I was asked for the MEND password which I told them I did not know. They bound
me in a chair, took off my trousers and clamped a device to my penis. My legs
were then put inside a basin of water. The device when turned on passed a high
voltage of electricity to my body and I lost consciousness. This was on Monday
October 18 at about 6pm. When I regained consciousness, I discovered I was at
the National Hospital emergency room. I remember the doctors asking why I had
trauma marks on my chest where the SSS doctor performed Cardio Pulmonary
Resuscitation (CPR). The SSS operatives were evasive in answering questions at
the hospital. That night I was released and taken to rest for the night at the
State House Clinic. That was the last time a torture was carried out on me.
My son was eventually released after Mr. Femi Falana
visited in the company of my wife after a month of being denied access to a
lawyer. However, my containers have been impounded up to date and my bank
account frozen.
The SSS stopped asking about the MEND password after
Jomo Gbomo made another statement while I was in their custody but refused to
still let me go because I did not cooperate earlier with them. Meanwhile in the
ongoing trial in South Africa, Henry is accused of being the same Jomo Gbomo by
the same people who say I am JG.
Double Standard in Kuje Prison:
On December 24, 2010 we were remanded in Kuje prison
as a result of our application to be removed from the SSS detention cell.
Unknown to us, the SSS passed instructions from “above” to the prison
authorities to carry out “special treatment” in order to stampede us into a
trial towards conviction. For 2 years we have been locked up in solitary
confinement, are not allowed to exercise or get sunlight outside and are forced
to sleep on the floor when bunk beds are available. Even a court order by
Justice Gabriel Kolawole to the prison for a change in our confinement style
was ignored after it was superseded by an ‘order from above.”
In late 2011, while locked up inside our cell block,
prison officials clothed in protective apparel, face masks and gloves carried
out fumigation without opening us to wait outside. Our protests fell on deaf
ears and by the time they were finished we were in distress. The Youth Corper
doctor on call tried her best within her limits to the emergency she was
confronted with. The poisonous gas and barbaric action reminiscent of the Nazi
concentration camp infamous gas chambers, eventually led to the death of one
Francis Osuwo, aka Gboko, also roped into this case by the SSS and a man I have
never met before. Interestingly, the four persons in detention were strangers
to each other except for one Obi Nwabueze who is a family friend and close
associate of Henry.
The fumigant whose chemical constituent were never
relayed to us have affected my neurological system and I have been on a daily
prescription of strong neurological medication prescribed by a neurologist of
the National Hospital, Professor Bwala.
While the Boko Haram suspects at Kuje prison are
allowed to worship in the prison mosque, we have never set foot in the prison
chapel. They are also enjoying privileges such as cable television, radio,
liberty to move within the prison walls, bunk beds to sleep on and phone calls
to their families. We are denied all of the above. When I asked the current
Controller of FCT Command the reason for the disparity, he said “the fear of
Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom.” He further said the Moslem community
was concerned about their welfare in custody.
Double Standard in the Court:
Even in the Courts where justice is supposed to be
blind, the double standard is glaring. While Senator Ndume, accused of being a
financier to Boko Haram was given bail by the same Judge presiding over our
case, we have been denied bail.
I understand that this Senator was permitted by the
same court to travel on his religious obligation to Mecca for the lesser Hajj
while we are refused from attending mass in a chapel less than 50 meters from
our cell block.
The court is willing to permit the Senator approval
to travel abroad for his medical check if he can provide proof that such checkup
is not done locally.
Meanwhile, I have been denied my application to go
on a compulsory checkup which in my case is mandatory for a kidney donor,
having donated my left kidney to my mother 30 years ago.
Our cases have been adjourned repeatedly for cruelly
long durations. The last time I appeared in court was March 2012 and the next
adjourned date is January 31. 2013, that is if that date will not be shifted
again under a flimsy excuse.
All we ask is for a free and fair justice from an
independent Judiciary that should release us instead of holding us as
scapegoats over an obvious power show. While this government continues holding us
hostage, our families are becoming destitute.
Our rights to freely worship as Catholics is being
infringed by the state who have more respect for Islam when all religions
should be treated equally.
Double Standards in the Polity:
The National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki
(rtd.) was quoted as saying that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan
has the phone numbers of suspected Boko Haram sponsors. Later the Inspector
General of Police said certain individuals had been put on a “watch list” as
suspected Boko Haram sponsors.
Now the big question is why did the government not
simply have our phone numbers and put us also on its ‘watch list” while we move
about freely? They did not hesitate to arrest us, clamp us on trumped-up
charges and detain us on flimsy excuses. They did not merely talk, they took
action even in South Africa where my brother was arrested since 2010. Is there
a better word to describe this other than hypocrisy?
The same government eager to negotiate with Boko
Haram who claimed responsibility for over 100 attacks where Catholics have
suffered the brunt, have refused to negotiate with MEND and continue to delude
themselves that all is well.
Why would this government expect Boko Haram to
unmask it leaders and negotiate when they can see that perceived leaders and
supporters of MEND are being persecuted and jailed?
I welcome a fact-finding visit from the Church in
the company of credible Human Rights groups to verify our allegations.
On the two occasions Kuje Prison was visited by the
Bishop of Abuja during the Christmas of 2010 and 2011, he was surreptitiously
steered away from where were we are held hostage and I believe he has no idea
of what is going in inside Kuje prison.
Our prayers is that leaders of our Churches will be
more sensitive and proactive in politics of the land that touches the lifes of
their followers and not leave delicate issues solely in the hands of corrupt
and selfish politicians, and majority of the population rid of a “Potiphar”
mentality who believe lies when told by SSS.
May God save our beloved Country.
Yours Sincerely,
Charles T. Okah
CC: Pope Benedict, Vatican, Rome
Catholic Bishop of Abuja Diocese, Abuja FCT
“I was sick and in prison, and you visited me.”
-Mathew 25. 35, 36
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