Nigeria’s 50th Independence Day Bomber, Charles Okah, Sentenced To Life

Nigeria’s 50th Independence Day Bomber, Charles Okah, Sentenced To Life

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Charles Okah and Obi Nwabueze to life imprisonment for the 2010 explosions in Abuja and Warri.

After over six hours of deliberation, Justice Gabriel Kolawole on Wednesday ruled that the prosecution proved its case against the two defendants in the five counts.

Okah and Nwabueze were charged with financing and actual participation in the act of terrorism in relation to the March 15, 2010 bomb blast in Government House Annex, Warri, Delta State and a similar blast on October 1, 2010 at Eagle Sqaure in Abuja.

Justice Kolawole rejected the plea for mercy by lawyers to the defendants and insisted that they must be subjected to the maximum sentence prescribed under Section 15(1) and (2) of the Economic and Financial Commission Act

Okah was convicted on two counts, while Nwabueze was convicted on three counts of the charges proffered against them.

One of their accomplices, Edmund Ebiware, who had his trial conducted separately, is serving life sentence upon his conviction and sentencing in 2013.

Justice Kolawole, in his 145-page judgment, held that the defendants – through their six witnesses – failed to puncture the prosecution’s evidence linking them to the crimes.

The judge held that the prosecution, led by Alex Iziyon (SAN), established that the two explosions were financed with the N3.2million provided by Okah and his senior brother Henry Okah, who is serving a jail term in South Africa.

He also held that the prosecution also established that Nwabueze got a total of N3.2m from Charles and Henry Okah with which he bought six used vehicles, four of which were utilsed for the two bomb.

“The prosecution has proved the offences charged beyond reasonable doubt. The defendants are found guilty on the five counts relating to them and are hereby convicted,” the judge said.

TheNation reports that Okah and Nwabueze looked unruffled in the dock as the judge made his pronouncement.