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The former leader of Nigeria's
armed group has said he was
arrested because he refused to
tell the group to retract a
statement claiming
responsibility for last week's
deadly attacks in the capital,
Abuja.
Henry Okah, currently being held
in jail in South Africa, told Al
Jazeera on Tuesday that he
received a phone call from a
"close associate" of Goodluck
Jonathan, the Nigerian
president, telling him to urge
the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(Mend) to withdraw its claim for
the bombings, which killed at
least 10 people and left 36
others injured on the 50th
anniversay of Nigeria's
independence.
"On Saturday morning, just a day
after the attack, a very close
associate of President Jonathan
called me and explained to me
that there had been a bombing in
Nigeria and that President
Jonathan wanted me to reach out
to the group, Mend, and get them
to retract the earlier statement
they had issued claiming the
attacks," Okah said.
"They wanted to blame the
attacks on northerners who are
trying to fight against him
[Jonathan] to come back as
president and if this was done,
I was not going to have any
problems with the South African
government.
"I declined to do this and a few
hours later I was arrested. It
was based on their belief that I
was going to do that that
Jonathan issued a statement
saying that Mend did not carry
out the attack."
'Unpatriotic elements'
Jonathan, who hails from the
country's south and has declared
his intentions to stand in next
year's presidential election,
said investigations had revealed
Mend, which is fighting for a
greater share of Nigeria's oil
wealth, knew nothing about the
attacks.
He said the bombings had been
carried out by a small group
based outside Nigeria, sponsored
by "unpatriotic elements within
the country".
Nigeria will be holding
elections in January almost a
year after Jonathan assumed the
presidency after the incumbent
president failed to complete his
term due to illness and eventual
death.
Jonathan's predecessor, Umaru
Yaradua, came from the northern
state of Katsina and Nigeria has
an unwritten agreement for the
presidency to alternate between
the mainly Muslim north and the
largely Christian south.
Al Jazeera did not get any
immediate reaction from the
Nigerian government about Okah's
claims.
Meanwhile, the authorities have
released nine people they
arrested in connection with the
bomb blasts on Monday, including
an aide for Ibrahim Babangida,
the country's former military
leader.
Raymond Dokpesi, the director of
Babandida's campaign to become
the ruling party presidential
candidate, was questioned by the
country's intelligence services
over the blasts, an aide said on
Tuesday.
Dokpesi, who also owns one of
Nigeria's leading television and
radio stations, was summoned to
the State Security Services
(SSS) on Monday, Kassim Afegbua,
a spokesman for Babangida, told
the AFP news agency.
"He was released yesterday and
is to report back today at
about 3'oclock (1400 GMT),"
Afegbua said.
"They said it is to do with
complicity in the bomb incident
of October 1."
Several media reports on Tuesday
said text messages found on the
mobile phone of one of the nine
suspects arrested by the state
secret police led to the
summoning of Dokpesi.
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