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Charles Okah |
(Being speech by Mr. Charles Okah, accused of masterminding the October 1st, 2010 bomb blast in Abuja at the Federal High Court Abuja, Presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole on December 4th, 2014)
"My Lord,
I have not been able
to secure the services of a lawyer to represent me because I am broke.
The few I have approached have been sympathetic, but declined to
represent me pro bono. My continued incarceration is making it very
difficult for me to raise funds considering that my family have
relocated from Nigeria due to constant harassment. If I had been granted
bail like the Boko Haram suspect, Senator Ali Mbume, who still receives
his monthly salary, fringe benefits, and allowances from the
government, my financial situation will not have been this pathetic.
Considering my current indigent status, I am requesting for a state
assisted lawyer to defend me, preferably one that is of an equivalent
status as that which the state provided for the prosecution, which will
be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I am making this request based on the
simple premise that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and
what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander. So what is
good for the prosecution is equally good for the defense. Unfortunately,
In Nigeria, the mere act of filing charges - even trumped up charges -
carries along with it a strong presumption of guilt. The scale held in
the hand of the statue of justice is balanced 50-50 - a level playing
field. It is unfair that the State, whose agent of persecution have
crippled and destroyed my business of over two decades, impounded and
continue to hold on to my goods of legitimate import, and opposed my
bail application vehemently will provide on one end of the scale a
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who comes to court with a train of 8, 10,
and sometimes 12 lawyers! And provide on the other end of the scale,
something less for the defense. It is only by providing a counsel of
equivalent status for the defense that the scale of justice will be
balanced. My Lord, whichever direction the pendulum swings to, it will
always be a win-win situation for the State, whether the State wins or
the State loses. If the State wins because the prosecution has proven
its case beyond a reasonable doubt, there is a cause for celebration. A
villain, a mad man, psychopath, a terrorist, whose ideology is to maim,
to kill, and to destroy would have been put where he belongs. In short,
good riddance to bad rubbish and justice would have prevailed. On the
other hand, if the State loses, because the prosecution never brought
its case before the court bona fide in the first place instead relying
on assumptions, hear-say, wild conjecture, an a shoddy investigation,
the State still remains a winner and there is cause for an even bigger
celebration - an innocent citizen, a Joseph, would have been vindicated,
discharged and acquitted. Justice will also have prevailed.
There is no one in
this courtroom that desires desperately for this trial to commence and
end as much as the 2 defendants standing inside your dock today. For
four years, we have been subjected to gross human rights violations and
petty cruelties from the agents of the State acting on orders from
above. Their actions led to the death of a co-accused, Mr. Francis
Osuwo, who I only met after my arrest, as well as injuries to my health,
which I have recovered from today. It had to take the intervention of
the international Red Cross, The British High Commission, who were
appalled at our confinement conditions, providing for us mattress,
blankets, and a bunk bed, replacement of a light bulb deliberately
removed from the 6ft by 4ft cell, and the renovation of the entire cell
block to make it fit for human habitation. A rights suit I filed against
the Nigerian prison and Interior Minister brought about succor and
changes we are enjoying today. We now have access to exercise, worship,
books to read etc., which were previously denied.
If my 5 year old son
is brought inside the courtroom now, I will not recognize him. Even
though I do not mind, but my older daughter minds that her fiance does
not make his intentions known to his future father-in-law through the
irons mesh of a prisons visitation room. This scar running from my back
down to my navel area is the mark of the sacrifice of love I made 32
years ago when I donated my left kidney to save another life. For 32
years, I have been like a traveller who embarked on a journey without a
spare tire. Ideally I should have an annual check-up in the hospital
where the donor nephrectomy was performed or an active transplant
center. If the National Hospital Abuja had started its kidney transplant
program, as was the original intent when my company, Tombra Life
Support Company Ltd established their dialysis center in 1999 and
provided a blueprint for a transplant program, I would have had my
check-up done there during this period of my incarceration.
During the 4 years we
have been awaiting trial, I have often heard the prosecution mention
something about its evidence and witnesses, which always leaves me
perplexed. I am always baffled because I have no idea what they are
referring to. It is only during a fair trial, in an impartial court such
as yours that the so-called evidence will be revealed. It is then we
will determine if this evidence has any relationship or relevance to the
charges of treason and terrorism levied against me or if what they have
been clutching onto for the past four years has been nothing more than
Joseph's abandoned coat. Similarly, it is during the trial that we will
establish if these witnesses are truthful men or women whose testimony
is relevant to the charges levied against me, if they have been bribed
or intimidated, and if they are unscrupulous like the biblical Ms.
Potiphar, the pathological liar who was so adroit at weaving webs of
lies around the smallest circumstantial evidence she had in her
clutches.
My reputation is at
stake here. From the day of my arrest on Saturday, October 16 2010, the
negative publicity and images seen on national television where I was
bound in chains carrying my cross and surrounded by armed security
operatives left a trail of confusion in its wake. Confusion beginning
from my immediate family, relatives, neighbors, members of my church,
business associates, old boys of my Alma mater St. Gregory's College
Lagos, and several others who still believe in me. Even the United
States embassy, which had previously awarded my company a contract
revoked it after my arrest. It is only after a fair and impartial trial
that my reputation will be forever deemed or my reputation will be
redeemed.
Allow me close with a
simple prayer to the Supreme Power that made our frames, sustains our
lives, and through all earthly change survives. May He bless our beloved
country with more men and more women of truth, character, and integrity
giving them the courage to stand firm in the difficult seasons. May He
also expose the potiphars amongst us whose false accusations and trumped
up charges have sent and continues to send countless of our innocent
compatriots to the gallows and the prisons. May God save Nigeria, Amen!"
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