Henry Okah, the leader of the oil-region militant group, Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), who is jailed in South Africa on Tuesday April 15, 2025 started a court case in Pretoria to halt alleged moves to grant him parole and deport him to Nigeria.
According to a statement by Henry Okah’s legal team, the case with number 2025-038124 set for hearing in a Gauteng Division high court, has the Home Affairs Department, the Zonderwarer Parole Board, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, the Minister of Correctional Services and the Minister of Justice, among others, as defendants.
In the filing, Okah is asking the court to stop the defendants, separately and jointly, where applicable, from:
- “Recommending the Applicant for release on parole whereas the Applicant never sought such release nor complies with the requirement for release on parole
- “Granting the Applicant’s release on parole where the Applicant does not comply with the provisions of Section 45(1) of the Correctional Services Act No. 111 of 1998 and other relevant provisions…
- “Forcibly affixing the Applicant’s fingerprints to any document whatsoever in the absence of a court other to that effect
- “Arresting and/or detaining and/or assisting in the arrest and/or detention of the Applicant on the basis of him being illegally present in the Republic
- “Seeking and/or effecting and/or assisting to effect the Applicant’s transfer to Nigeria or any other State
- “Arresting and/or detaining the Applicant in the event of his release by the Constitutional Court on the basis of allegations in respect of which he had not been formally charged, prior to the bringing of this application.”
The legal team said that “Okah is refusing parole on the grounds that he was unlawfully arrested and convicted on terrorism charges pertaining to two car bomb attacks in Nigeria in 2020.
“He is currently serving a 24-year jail term for his role as the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which took responsibility for the bombings.
“Okah has applied to the Constitutional Court to review the lawfulness of his arrest, trial and conviction, which he insists violated the prescriptions of the law.”
