Suspected Abuja Bomb Blast Mastermind Places On Suicide Watch

The suspected mastermind of October 1, 2010 bomb blast in Abuja, Charles Okah has been placed on suicide watch list by the Nigerian Prisons Service following his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide during court proceeding on Tuesday, Septmber 6.

To ascertain his mental state, prisons officials on Wednesday, September 7 made plan to conduct a psychological evaluation on him.

Charles after his emotional- filled plead to the court over his long trial was said to attempted to jump out of the courtroom through the window on the third floor of a five-storey building.

He  was said to have been frustrated following the absence of his lawyer during the court proceeding.

Okah had severe tie with his former lawyer, Festus Keyamo in October 2014 and was provided lawyers by Legal Aid Council.

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In his passionate plead to the presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, Okah said: “I have been incarcerated for about five years now, and I have a family to cater for. My children would grow up without feeling the warmth of their father. I’m tired of this endless trial.”

According to prisons sources, it is normal to subject inmates that exhibit strange behavior to psychological evaluation to ascertain if they are fit to be kept among other inmates.

“Okah has been placed under heightened watch to prevent him from harming or killing himself based on the strange behaviour he exhibited in court on Tuesday. He will also be made to undergo psychological evaluation to determine his state of mind; the evaluation will show if he is depressed, mentally stable or unstable and it would help us to decide whether it is safe for us to keep him among other inmates,” the source stated.

Confirming the surveillance placed on Okah, the prisons spokesman, Francis Enabore said: “Once you are under trial, we dedicate some time to watching your behaviour, utterances, what you do, who visit you and so on, that is the standard maintained at every prison formation.

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“Yes, the incident would make us to pay attention to him, and we would send our psychologist to talk to him; We will talk to him, ask him questions why he exhibited that behaviour in court, it’s our way of ministering to those in custody.”

Enabore, however, added that the accused had not showed any strange behaviour since he was taken back to prisons after his attempted suicide in court.

Meanwhile, a survivor of the recent bomb blast in Abuja  had attributed his survival to the call of nature.

Narrating his story, Usman Aminu, told newsmen that he was saved by the call of nature, which made him walk across the street to buy a sachet of water.

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