Jonathan timid, cowardly, says MEND leader, Henry Okah

Jonathan timid, cowardly, says MEND leader, Henry Okah

Reader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), Henry Okah, is hitting hard at President Goodluck Jonathan
from his prison cell in South Africa.
Okah who was sentenced to a 24-year jail term in March 2013 for
terrorism, sees the President as timid and cowardly.
In a lengthy interview published by this newspaper today, the man who
President Jonathan once accused of masterminding the attempt on his
life during the 2010 Independence anniversary in Abuja said he found it
difficult to speak about him (Jonathan) without “saying something
uncomplimentary.”
Going down the memory lane, Okah said of him: “I have met President
Jonathan. I knew him though not closely when he was the Deputy
Governor of Bayelsa State. My cousin Chief (Diepreye) Alamieyeseigha
was then governor.
“I had a meeting with Jonathan in Pretoria in 2007 when the late
President Musa Yar’ Adua sent him to speak with me. He was
accompanied by Chief Timipre Sylva. I have spoken to him on
occasions.
“In one instance, he was traumatized emotionally by the attack on his
country home which he was misled into believing I had a hand in. The
last time I spoke with him was in April 2010 when he asked for my
support personally. Since my recent arrest, I have had no direct
contact with him.
“It is difficult to speak about President Jonathan without saying
something uncomplimentary. I truthfully find him timid and cowardly.
His discussions are unintelligible revealing a lack of intellectual depth.
“As governor of Bayelsa State, and a man whose home had been
violated, I expected him to be angry and indignant at this sacrilegious
act. Rather, he was physically trembling, terrified and incoherent as he
spoke weeks after the attack.”
Okah said he has been vindicated by the president with his
performance since assuming the nation’s leadership six years ago.
“I warned Nigerians about Goodluck Jonathan but some people
assumed I was speaking in anger and arrogance,” he said.
He added: “Nigerians have now seen President Jonathan for exactly
what I told them that he is. There is little difference in his speeches
and that of Asari.”
Drawing a comparison between Jonathan and his main challenger in
this month’s presidential election, General Muhammadu Buhari, Okah
said: “I was quite young when General Muhammadu Buhari was in
power so I am compelled by this fact to look at him in awe. This has
nothing to do with his personality. General Buhari kept quiet for a long
time and I have not kept up with him since after he was deposed in a
military coup. He does not appear vain and would very likely be a more
prudent civilian leader. This is not to say that I would vote for him in
any elections as much as I respect him. I am disillusioned with
Nigerian politics and have never voted or participated in any form of
politics at any level.”
He prayed that “Nigeria gets a responsible and sensible president who
sees the need to properly address the situation of the North and South
in the face of Boko Haram and the Niger Delta issue.”
Okah was also unsparing in his evaluation of the Ijaw leader, Chief
Edwin Clark and ex-militant, Asari Dokubo.
He dismissed Chief Clark as a tribalist and an opportunist and “one of
those people in the Niger Delta who parade themselves in oil
companies pretending to have control over militants.”
He wondered what “this decrepit man can do with all the money he is
gathering.”
Of Asari Dokubo, he said: “He is unintelligent and has forgotten the
different versions he has given in the past. This man once said I was
fighting against Goodluck Jonathan because Jonathan displaced
Alamieyeseigha. Another time he said my wife is Itsekiri which was
why I supported Itsekiris. My wife is from Enugu.
“He has also said in yet another interview that I am not Ijaw. But Ijaw
historians and scholars will tell him that I am a purer Ijaw than he can
ever be. Even as I say this I must tell you that the issue of tribe is
unimportant to me because I am not tribalistic and regard myself first
as a Nigerian before an Ijaw.”
He seems disappointed with Nigeria’s human rights community for
showing no interest in his case. According to him,”I don’t know if any
human rights organization in Nigeria has any interest in my case. Most
African human rights organizations are lame and can be very easily
influenced by governments through bribes and intimidation into
ignoring rights abuses.
“Citizens of most African countries receive no support from their
governments or home NGO’s leaving them open to abuse in foreign
prisons.” 

The Nation