Mr. Okah is being tried for his alleged involvement in the October 1, 2010 bomb blast in Abuja.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, has written to the Comptroller General of Prisons, Zakari Ibrahim, over an alleged plot to kill his client, Charles Okah, who is facing trial over the 2010 Independence Day bomb blast.
In the letter, Mr. Keyamo said that there is a deliberate attempt by the prison officer in charge of Mr. Okah, who is suffering from kidney problem and high blood pressure, to deny him of a lifesaving drug prescribed by prison clinic.
“On 9th January, 2014 when the wife, Mrs. Okah, visited our client in Prisons, she was informed that the said drugs have not been bought due to lack of finance, and as such she was requested to purchase them for our client. Consequently, our client’s wife immediately purchased the said drugs and handed same over to the Prisons Officer in Charge, DCP Felix Lawrence, who seized them and refused to administer same to our client, thereby denying him medication till date, despite his critical health condition,” Mr. Keyamo wrote in the petition.
“Sir, the conduct of DCP Felix Lawrence is very worrisome, in addition to several other inhuman treatments meted to our client in Kuje Prisons. Several events which are calculated attempts to sniff out his life have repeatedly occurred, which include intentional denial of medication, refusal to administer the correct and appropriate drugs when prescribed by the Prisons Clinic, the initial refusal to fumigate the cell and the subsequent fumigation while our client was inside, the discovery of a scorpion in the cell and various other life-threatening events,” he added.
He said the action of Mr. Lawrence suggests that there is a plot to kill Mr. Okah. He therefore implored the Comptroller General to compel Mr. Lawrence to release the drugs to Mr. Okah. He added that he would be compelled to take legal action to enforce the fundamental human rights of his client if his request is not permitted.
Mr. Okah has been has been embroiled in controversies with prison guards. Last July, Mr Keyamo alleged that some prison officials attempted to sodomise Mr. Okah.
Mr. Okah is the younger brother to Henry Okah who has been jailed in South Africa for being the mastermind of the October 1, 2010 bombing in Abuja that killed many people.
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