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| Nigeria rebel Okah 'to be freed' | Nigeria rebel Okah 'to be freed' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Nigeria is to release militant leader Henry Okah because he has accepted a government amnesty offer, the presidential spokesman says. | Nigeria is to release militant leader Henry Okah because he has accepted a government amnesty offer, the presidential spokesman says. |
| But spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said details of the release still needed to be worked out. | But spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said details of the release still needed to be worked out. |
| Henry Okah is a leader of the Mend militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. | Henry Okah is a leader of the Mend militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. |
| The government recently offered an amnesty to members of any militant group which laid down its weapons. | The government recently offered an amnesty to members of any militant group which laid down its weapons. |
| A senior spokesman for the Mend rebels confirmed to the BBC that, if Henry Okah was set free, the organisation would lay down its arms. | |
| But he said the release of Henry Okah was just one issue - and there were other issues to be settled in the region. | |
| The Mend rebels have been fighting for an increased share of Nigeria's vast oil wealth in the Niger Delta region, but the government has in the past dismissed it as a criminal group. | |
| Henry Okah is in Nigerian custody facing trial on charges of gun-running and treason after being arrested in Angola in 2007. |