Henry Okah is convicted

The long term imbroglio between President Jonathan and Henry Okah, the acclaimed leader of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is gradually finally being laid to rest with the conviction of Okah. 

A South African court on Monday convicted Nigerian national Henry Okah of 13 terrorism charges, including bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on independence day 2010.

“I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused,” said Judge Nels Claassen, handing down the verdict in the South Gauteng High Court.

Okah was found guilty of masterminding attacks including twin car bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010 and two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub of the oil-rich Delta region.

Okah continues to deny involvement in the blasts. He said the charges were politically motivated. He also denied leading MEND, but had said he sympathised with their goals.

However the South African court found Okah was the leader of the movement after uncovering documentary evidence including his wife’s handwritten notes. (AFP) 

Okah's brother who has been held in Nigeria ever since in connexion with the bombing had written a long letter smuggled out of prison detailing all the conspiracy against his brother as revealed by his interview and questioning by men of the State Security Service (SSS). 

It now looks as if becoming the President is another avenue to get back at those one is not in good terms with.

Obama and the Second Term Swearing-in Ceremony

Providence does bring a kind of symmetrical and coincidental occurrences which makes analysis sometimes obfuscating and sometimes interesting. As Israel prepares for election on January 22, Obama's inauguration comes up for his final lapse in the White House on January 20 which makes the affairs interesting.

The expected population is around 800,000, a sharp drop in the 1.8 million audience his first term swearing-in ceremony in office commanded in 2009. This is expected as the president has had more tough time battling established 'popular culture' with his skin pigmentation being a sort of impediment.

From Obamacare to Israel to fiscalcliff to gun control and recently back to Israel, the President has been seen by many whites as an 'imported leader' but his leadership sagacity has made him held his ground and come out hale and hearty.

On Sunday, following a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama will be sworn in officially at the White House at 1655 GMT, meeting the constitutional requirement that he do so on January 20. That portion will be private - except for a media presence - with a small audience of mostly family members.

Both times he will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice John Roberts who, in 2009 after flubbing the oath the first time, administered it to Obama again in the White House the day after his inauguration. The president's two recitations this year will be the third and fourth time he has taken the oath.

Obama's speech will focus on the American values, his imbroglio with the Republican-led house on issues like fiscalcliff, immigration laws, gun control and his major agendas in his second term. He will also bear in mind the changes in the Middle East, the United States' commitment to Israel and America's 'international responsibilities'.