More convictions for Abuja Independence Day bombings

Charles Okah has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 2010 Independence Day bombing in Abuja, Nigeria. The younger brother of Henry Okah, jailed in SA for a similar crime, was sentenced by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday evening. The Premium Times reports that he received the same sentence as his co-accused Obi Nwabueze. Twelve people were killed in the bombing at Eagle Square. SA's Constitutional Court last month re-instated the convictions and sentence imposed on Henry Okah. The Nigerian national with permanent residence status in SA was convicted and sentenced to 24 years by the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) in 2013 for two bombings in Nigeria in 2010, under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, the High Court found he was a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, an umbrella organisation of militant resistance groups in the south-eastern states of Nigeria.