Okah attempts suicide in court

Nigerian militant leader Henry Okah, left, gives a thumbs up in the courtroom in 2013. Okah is convicted of 13 terrorism charges, including the 2010 independence day bombings in Abuja. Picture: Alexander Joe

Nigerian militant leader Henry Okah, left, gives a thumbs up in the courtroom in 2013. Okah is convicted of 13 terrorism charges, including the 2010 independence day bombings in Abuja. Picture: Alexander Joe

Published Oct 8, 2015

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Abuja, Nigeria - He’s alive: the message comes from Nigerian prison officials after the alleged mastermind of a 2010 bomb attack at Nigeria’s Independence Day celebrations tried to kill himself at a court hearing, followed by rumours he had died in jail.

Spokesman Enobore O Francis said on Wednesday night Okah “is not dead but alive.”

Okah tried to throw himself from a third-floor court room on Tuesday, saying his life was not worth living after protracted court proceedings.

Okah has denied organising twin car bombings that killed 12 people at the October 10, 2010, celebrations of Nigeria’s 50th anniversary of independence, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The attack was claimed by militants who want Nigeria’s southern Delta to get more from revenues of oil that has polluted the region.

AP

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