THE Nigerian government has refused to try terror accused Henry Okah in his home country.

Okah was arrested in Johannesburg for allegedly masterminding the 2010 Independence Day bombings that killed eight people and injured scores more in Nigeria, the Johannesburg High Court heard yesterday.

The court also heard that Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in Nigeria, Elder Godsday Orubebe, called Okah the day after the bombing, wanting to know if he was behind the attacks.

Orubebe, who testified yesterday, said he called Okah because rumours were doing the rounds in that country that Okah was responsible for the attacks.

It also emerged that Nigeria's government does not want Okah to be extradited and want him to be tried in South Africa.

Orubebe said his government had a lot of respect for Okah as he was a key figure in the Niger Delta struggle and that the military also had a lot of respect for him.

Looking unfazed, Okah sat quietly in court and took notes as charges were read to him.

Okah was a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) - a rebel militant organisation in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

It is alleged that Okah grew increasingly dissatisfied with amnesty conditions which had been entered into in 2009 by the government and all rebel factions operating in the region, and "wanted to send out a strong message to the Nigerian government that Mend still existed and that he should be taken seriously". - alfredm@sowetan.co.za