Posted by Reuters on
A Nigerian judge on Friday rejected an application for bail from militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is on trial for coup plotting, citing "security fears".
ABUJA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A Nigerian judge on Friday rejected an application for bail from militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is on trial for coup plotting, citing "security fears".
An ethnic Ijaw nationalist from the oil-producing Niger Delta, Asari is accused of planning to take up arms to achieve self-determination for the southern wetlands region and plotting to overthrow President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"The security fears raised by the prosecution have not been assuaged by the applicant ... Therefore this court rejects the application for bail," Justice Peter Olayiwola ruled. Asari's trial is scheduled to resume in January in Abuja.
State prosecutor Salihu Aliyu had argued on Thursday that if released, Asari would disappear into the remote mangrove swamps and creeks of the delta and commit "more terrible and grievous offences" than those for which he has been charged.
Asari and his self-styled Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force fought sporadic battles against Nigerian troops in the delta last year and his threat to wage all-out war pushed world oil prices above $50 per barrel for the first time.
The fighting ended when he struck a deal with the government to disarm in exchange for an amnesty.
Since Asari's arrest in September, another three prominent ethnic nationalist leaders from the Ibo and Yoruba tribes have also been detained, suggesting that authorities have toughened their response to groups which question Nigeria's unity.
In the Niger Delta, resentment by poor villagers neglected by successive Nigerian governments, which have made billions from the oil being pumped from their lands, fuels a cycle of protest, conflict and repression that has killed thousands.
Asari's supporters see him as a freedom fighter representing the ordinary people of the delta, but critics say he seeks personal enrichment through oil theft and a protection racket.
Wearing a black beret and a t-shirt that read "The Struggle Is Unstoppable", Asari shouted he was innocent as more than 20 policemen struggled to tear him from supporters and drive him away in an armoured truck after Friday's hearing.