Asari,Tompolo Hails Henry Okah's Conviction

Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari and former MEND leader Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a. Tompolo) yesterday said Henry Okah’s conviction in South Africa will have no backlash in the Niger Delta. The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja, branch, said the conviction of Okah should serve as a wake-up call for Nigeria to revamp its justice system. The Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) said it was time for Nigeria to reform the court system to save democracy from collapse in the face of anarchy and impunity. Dokubo-Asari told our reporter on the telephone: “He (Okah) was never involved in our (Niger Delta) struggle. He got what he deserved and that is that. It was a well-deserved sentence and that is all there is to his conviction.” Asked what the conviction portends for activists in the region, Dokubo-Asari said: “It portends nothing; he was just a businessman and, like I said, never involved in the agitation for a better deal for the region.” Speaking through the Executive Chairman of the Tompolo Foundation, Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, former MEND leader Tompolo appealed for calm, stressing that “the law has taken its course”.