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Nigeria’s security operatives have expressed doubt about the authenticity of the celebrated interview with a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta’s (MEND), Henry Okah, by Al Jazeera, during which he said an aide of President Goodluck Jonathan asked him to implicate Northern politicians over October 1, 2010 bomb blasts, which left 12 persons dead.

A security source said investigations within the security services in Nigeria and South Africa revealed that the interview with Mr. Okah might have been faked to deceive the Qatar-based news network.

The source said last night that their South African counterpart confirmed that, “at no time did we allow Okah to make such telephone contact. Following suspicion raised about the authenticity of the interview, we contacted South Africa to confirm its validity, but were shocked to find out that at no time did such interview take place,” he said.

“In fact, our contact wondered why it took us so long to cross check this information because they did not want to interfere, since the issues did not concern their government directly. They have been waiting for such security inquiries from their Nigerian counterpart before revealing the veracity of the interview, since the content does not concern them directly.”

Al Jazeera confirmation

An Al Jazzera reporter, however, told NEXT that the interview was conducted with Mr Okah. The reporter said Okah called from South Africa and he was passed on to the company’s studios in Doha.

“He called me from prison on a +27 number,” the Al Jazeera staff said. “We had a long discussion about the bombs and the situation in general. Clearly, they are allowed access to fixed phone lines in SA prisons. I asked him whether he would be prepared to be go live on Al Jazeera that very instant. He said ‘yes’.

“So I gave him our newsdesk number in Doha - and alerted them to the fact that Henry Okah was about to call from prison. He called, and they put him right through to the studio and live on air,” the reporter said.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) for the Niger Delta has also debunked the veracity of another Al Jazeera programme featuring alleged MEND fighters in the region. The JTF said an aerial surveillance of the region showed there were no longer any militant camps anywhere, as claimed by Al Jazeera.

“Al Jazeera, it will be recalled, had also during the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s health saga, staged a similar interview with the late president’s cousin, claiming that the sick man was healthy, playing with his children, and climbing 13-storey building,” a security source said.