Mend's Okah charged with treason

Henry Okah, a factional leader from Nigerian militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) was formally charged with treason and gun-running today.

Armed soldiers and police surrounded the Federal High Court in the central city of Jos, where Okah appeared.

Journalists were not allowed in the courtroom, a Reuters report said.

Okah's defence lawyers were barred from disclosing details of the hearing but said they were lodging a formal objection against an order by judicial authorities for Okah's trial to be closed to the public and the press.

Court sources, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that Okah's case would continue on 22 April.

If Okah is convicted, he could face the death penalty.

In 2006, Mend launched a campaign attacking oil installations and kidnapping foreign oil workers which saw 20% of Nigeria's oil output shut in.

The militant group has said it will closely watch the outcome of Okah's trial.

Okah was arrested in Angola last September and extradited to Nigeria on 14 February. His detention in a secret location has angered many militants in the delta, risking government efforts to make peace with them.

Prosecutors last month revealed a number of charges against Okah, who was accused of gun-running and conspiring to wage war on the government.

"I've seen my client. He's well and fine," Okah's chief defence lawyer, Femi Falana, told journalists outside the courtroom compound in Jos.

Before the closed hearing, he said the authorities' order to try Okah in secret was an infringement of his rights.

"Even every coup plotter in Nigeria was tried in the open ... This is a case of gun-running and it does not warrant this kind of trial," Falana said.

Okah still commands loyalty from several well-armed rebel factions in the creeks of the delta and militant sources said they are waiting to see how his trial will be conducted before deciding whether to resume their armed struggle.

Disruptions to oil supplies from the Niger Delta are one of the factors that have pushed oil prices to record highs.