•Wife wants amnesty for husband •Allege confession of true culprits
•6-year-old baby protests Dad's "long journey"
•'It should be amnesty for one, amnesty for all' –Daughter
By HENRY CHUKWURAH
The Presidential amnesty committee on Boko Haram has met with Charles Okar, the detained elder brother of the leader of Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okar, jailed in South Africa for the October 1, 2010 bomb blast in Abuja.
Charles is also facing trial for his alleged role in the incident.
His wife, Angela, confirmed her husband's meeting with the committee in an interview with Sunday Sun during which she and step-daughter, Helen, pleaded that their embattled breadwinner be allowed to benefit from the proposed amnesty for members of the proscribed Boko Haram. She also revealed that some detained insurgents had allegedly confessed that the banned sect carried out the attack.
Mrs Okar who did not give details of the meeting, also complained of her children's growing impatience with her tale that their father has gone on "a long journey."
She said her husband had told her during one of her recent visits to the prisons, that some of the sect members allegedly told him their colleagues were behind the blasts.
"Coincidentally, on the day I went to see him, I was told to wait for some time because members of the Committee on Boko Haram were meeting with him. After the meeting, he explained to me that he met with them and that during a discussion he had with some of the Boko Haram detainees, some of them claimed that their group was responsible for that attack.
"I know that after we talked about it, I said may be that confirms what the President said at the time, that a particular group was not responsible for the attack. My husband has also maintained his innocence'', she said.
Reminded that the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) had claimed responsibility for the blast, Mrs Okar told Sunday Sun that she suspected the militant group was on a propaganda trip.
"Based on this new revelation of someone else coming out to say that his group was responsible, I am looking at MEND's claim as probably some sort of propaganda'', she stated.
The mother of six including three stepchildren passionately urged that her husband should join the list of those being considered for amnesty.
"What I would say, is that since this committee has been set up and I believe they (suspects) are all probably facing similar trials in court, they should all be given the same opportunity of benefiting from the amnesty."
She said that caring for the children in their father's forced absence has been difficult because they kept asking for him.
"Each time the younger ones ask about their father's whereabouts, I tell them he's gone on a long journey. One of them who is almost six years once said, 'Dad has travelled for so long.'
"I had a particular incident where one of the kids threw a tantrum and I tried to caution her and I think, out of frustration, she said, 'Oh, where's my dad? I am tired, when is he coming back home?'' and she went wailing and complaining. It's general with every one of them.
"Most times, when I hear such statements by them, I try to pretend as if I didn't hear. At other times, I'd just tell them, 'Oh, Dad said he is coming home very soon.' Somehow, you are not giving them a direct answer. You just have a way to see if you can manipulate their minds into accepting what has happened."
Mrs Okar assured the authorities that her husband could not be involved in any form of violence, saying: "Based on the man that I know and married, I have never seen him as a violent man. He is a very compassionate person, a very patriotic Nigerian. Assuming there are even things I don't know about him, this is one thing that I definitely know about him."
Speaking in the same vein, one of Charles' daughters, Helen Okar who arrived in Nigeria recently after a Masters degree programme in Canada, said her father had been involved in saving lives.
She said: "Emergency medical rescue has been one project he was involved in for a long time. He would randomly stop cars and advice parents who leave their children on the front seat, to take them to the back seat, and all that.
"I don't think that a man who can easily take the lives of other people would be that interested in preserving and saving the lives of so many Nigerians. My daddy is such a man who would not do anything to jeopardize his family, let alone others."
Joining her stepmother in the plea for amnesty, Helen reasoned that it would amount to, "double standard", and unfair, "to consider a group for amnesty and the other for death penalty or conviction for life."
She added: "It just seems like a mismatch because they are all facing the same trial and their alleged offences are similar. It should be amnesty for one, amnesty for all."
Also, the two Okars appealed that since there was no incriminating item found inside their benefactor's container that was impounded, by the authorities, it should be released because the contents were for a contract, adding that the family's business had been stifled.
Via: Sun News Online
This Boko Haram group must just be totally eradicated from this country. Their atrocities is very annoying.