Nigeria president wants rebel leader freed in days

By Felix Onuah

L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10 (Reuters) - Nigeria President Umaru Yar'Adua wants Henry Okah, on trial for gun-running and treason, to be freed in the next few days after the rebel leader welcomed the government's amnesty offer, a spokesman said on Friday.

Both sides still need to negotiate terms of the deal before Okah, the suspected leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), can be released, his lawyers told Reuters on Thursday. [ID:nL9680295]

If Okah is freed, it would raise hopes that MEND would agree to lay down its weapons and halt an offensive that has battered Africa's largest oil sector since May.

"President Yar'Adua has directed the minister of justice to immediately set the process of Okah's release in motion," said spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Italy.

"The president wants the whole issue sorted out without further delay. He should be released in a few days time," he added.

Yar'Adua ordered Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa to complete the Okah deal without any "unnecessary legal procedures", Adeniyi said.

A meeting between Okah's lawyers and government officials was expected on Sunday or Monday.

Okah's release has been one of the key demands from MEND, a loose faction of rebel groups responsible for attacks that have cut 300,000 barrels per day of production in the last six weeks.