4th October, 2012
Nnamdi Felix / Abuja
Former special Adviser to the president on the Amnesty Programme, Mr. Timi Alaibe, on Wednesday, denied having or receiving any prior information about the 2010 twin Independence day bomb blasts that rocked the nation’s capital city. The blasts were alleged to have been masterminded by Mr. Henry Okah, of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND.
The former Presidential aide made the denials in a witness box at the ongoing trial of Mr. Edmund Ebiware, one of the four others charged alongside the younger brother of MEND leader, Mr. Charles Okah, standing trial for the bomb blasts before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
Alaibe denied that Mr. Edmund Ebiware ever informed him of the plot to bomb the Eagle Square venue of the Independence day ceremonies prior to the blasts.
Mr. Ebiware had claimed to have passed the information of the planned attacks to the former Presidential aide as part of his defence to the treason charges slammed against him and the others for the bomb blasts.
Alaibe was also fingered in the course of the trial, as having a first hand information before the bomb blasts by an ex-militant who earlier gave evidence in the course of the trial.
Upon his cross examination, Mr. Alaibe stated that the only time he came in direct contact with Mr. Ebiware was when he helped the amnesty office in the disarmament process of some ex-militant in Ogbotebe community of Delta state.
He added that he had also had course to caution the accused person against his campaign on the politics of geo-political zoning before the 2010 presidential election.
Shortly after Alaibe’s cross examination by the prosecution team led by Dr. Alex Izinyon, a senior advocate of Nigeria, the prosecution closed its case.
Mr. Ebiware had sought and obtained the separation of his trial from the other accused persions. His lawyers opened his defence and called him to the witness box.
He confirmed that he had course to meet with Mr. Alaibe in his office over threats to his life and the allegation that he was involved with Mr. Henry Okah, the alledged mastermind of the Independence day bomb blasts. He also stated that they met over the need to disarm ex-militaants in the Niger Delta .
Ebiware told the court that his relationship with Mr. Okah had always been on the phone and that the MEND leader had threatened him because he felt he was an informant to the government but denied that Mr. Okah ever told him of his intention to stage an attack on 2010 Independence day.
He further stressed that his subsequent conversation with the MEND leader was prompted by the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, who asked him to establish a relationship between her and Mr. Okah, in order to address pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.
He however admitted receiving the sum of N4 million from former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babaginda’s presidential campaign office to open an office for him in yenegoa which he said was purely business and not politics.
He told the court that he later dropped his support for the former Head of State in his bid to run for the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, immediately President Jonathan declared his intention to run for office.
The presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, subsequently ordered parties to file in their written addresses and adjourned to Monday, 12 November, for adoption.