Nigeria: Militant leader's outburst delays treason trial

The trial of a Nigerian militant leader charged with treason was delayed today as prosecutors asked for him to be tried in his absence after he disrupted the hearing.

Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force leader Mujahid Dokubo Asari called the proceedings in the Nigerian capital a “Gestapo trial” and vowed to continue his struggle to boost oil-revenues for his impoverished region.

“I will never negotiate with Satan. We will continue to fight until victory is attained,” he said on the steps of the courtroom, clenched fist in the air.

Inside, Prosecutor Saliu Aliyu asked judges to allow Asari to be tried in his absence due to continuing unruly behaviour in the courtroom, which included Asari calling government officials “Satan”.

Defence lawyer Festus Keyamo admitted that Asari disrupted proceedings but said the government had withheld legal and medical help from his client.

Asari, who has denied treason charges, claimed that he had been kept in an underground cell for six months and not given any medication.

Police failed to bundle Asari out of the courtroom.

“For the police to take me out of this place they will have to kill me here,” Asari shouted. Asari told the presiding judge: “Your family will cry, they will cry and cry – they will have nobody to console them.”

Proceedings were adjourned until March 5.

Asari was arrested in September 2005 and charged with plotting to overthrow the government after several months of leading an armed group that attacked oil pipelines in the southern Niger Delta region.

He called for more of the nation’s oil wealth to be channelled into the Delta region. Despite generating billions in oil revenues, the majority of the region’s people remain mired in poverty.

Several other armed groups, some of which are holding foreign hostages, are now calling for Asari's release. Their campaigns of bombings and kidnappings cost the Nigerian government £2bn (€3bn) in lost oil revenues last year and cut production by over a fifth.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude producer and the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the US.