There was outrage on Friday after minors detained for three months over their involvement in the #EndBadGovernance protest collapsed during their arraignment in court.
At the end of the sitting, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted bail to the 76 defendants, of which 26 were between 14 and 17 years of age. Most of the suspects looked unkempt and malnourished, it was observed.
Earlier Justice Obiora Egwuatu temporarily suspended proceedings after four of the defendants fainted in court. The judge later resumed proceedings after the suspects were moved to the court’s medical clinic for attention.
In a 10-count charge against them, the defendants were alleged to have been involved in violent protests in different states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara during the #EndBadGovernance protest, which occurred between August 1 and10.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, had alleged that the defendants, between July 31 and August 5, conspired with a 70-year-old British national, Andrew Martin Wayne, to destabilise Nigeria and cause breakdown of law and order and calling for a military takeover of government.
In the charges signed by Simon Lough, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, the prosecution further alleged that the defendants incited the military, Russian and other Western governments to topple the democratically elected government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, “using Russian flags and those of other countries in a violent protest”.
The prosecution further alleged that the defendants, without permission, violently armed themselves with dangerous weapons, with which “they attacked and killed some security officers in their lawful duty while calling for the suspension of democracy and removal of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The prosecution stated that the offences breached sections 411, 412(1)(a)(i)(ii)(b)(c)(b); 413(a)(b) and 416 of the Penal Code (northern Nigerian states) Federal Provisions Act, CAP P3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2008.
The suspects all pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to them in English language and interpreted in Hausa.
Arguing the bail application, defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, had pleaded with the court to release the suspects to bail to avoid subjecting them to the same detention facility as adults. He noted that their earlier remand on August 2 had expired.
In his submission, Audu Garba, representing the police, who did not object to the bail, noted that the court should take into account the severity of the charges brought against the defendants and impose conditions that would ensure their continued attendance for their trial.
After the proceedings, the defence counsel, Abubakar reiterated that the minors among the defendants were kept together with adult suspects at the police SARS and Intelligence Response Team facilities in Abuja, adding that they were not properly fed for days and some of them claimed they had no proper food for three days before the proceeding.
He noted that the minors had also missed school for three months and no education was provided for them in the facility.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Amnesty International Nigeria have condemned the detention of the minors.
“The Tinubu administration must unconditionally release the 76 #EndBadGovernance protesters and drop all charges of ‘treasonable felony’ against them or face legal action. No one should ever be punished for the peaceful exercise of their human rights,” SERAP stated on its official X handle.
Reacting, a human rights organisation, Amnesty International, criticised the President Bola Tinubu government for the continued detention of the boys.
“The attempt to subject these minors to a sham trial over alleged ‘treason’ demonstrates government’s utter disregard for the rule of law. Authorities must release them immediately and unconditionally,” the group stated.
HURIWA speaks too
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), in a statement yesterday also urged the president to release the boys.
The national coordinator of the HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, condemned the actions of the Nigeria Police Force in “clamping down on the children, detaining them under clearly excruciating circumstances for 80 days and producing them in the Federal High Court, where the whole world has seen them looking malnourished or suffering from circumstances not unconnected with physical or psychological torture. This has depicted Nigeria as a country that has no respect for the fundamental rights of children.
“The question that most people around the world would be asking is whether Nigeria has degenerated to the level of lawless Burma in East Asia, whereby the human rights of citizens are neither protected nor promoted.
“This show of shame has also exposed Nigeria as a country that goes to the United Nations to declare that it has abolished torture, but the minors who were brought to court have created the opposite impression about the commitment of Nigeria to abolish tortures of all ramifications.”
A former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, also criticised the development.
In a tweet on Friday, Atiku stated that the video of the malnourished defendants was disturbing, and described it as reminiscent of a Nazi concentration camp.
He noted that the matter reflected government’s low premium on the lives of the vulnerable, especially children, and a breach of section 11 of the Child’s Rights Act, which guarantees the dignity of the child.
“The children are being prosecuted for their alleged role in the #EndBadGovernance protests, which took place between August 1 and August 10, 2024. If they are just being arraigned three months later, one can only imagine the sort of dehumanising conditions they have been subjected to all this while,” he stated.
Similarly, Obi decried federal government’s poor handling of the minors “for protesting against bad governance that was directly affecting their livelihoods and which our constitution under a democratic dispensation guarantees them.
“Curiously, most of the people in government today leveraged this aspect of the constitution, standing as champions of good governance while in opposition.
“Moreover, our status presumes that suspects deserve some dignity, even in a correctional home, as human beings.”
Also speaking, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) expressed disappointment over the situation. The NBA president, Afam Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who was represented in court by Vincent Otaokpukpu, bemoaned the conditions under which the defendants were brought to court, and called for the withdrawal of the charges, and they should be reunited with their families.
“Any person arrested should be tried in a place where they can get physical and emotional support from their families. Bringing them from Kano and other states to Abuja is not the best,” he said.
In his reaction, Senator Shehu Sani described the arraignment of minors with adults in the court as “most unfortunate and shameful for our country’s democracy” and asked for the withdrawal of the charges against them.
In the same vein, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), condemned what he called “the unjust treatment of minors.”
Pantami wants IGP to investigate alleged maltreatment
A former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, has urged the Inspector General of Police to investigate the alleged maltreatment of underaged children who appeared in court for their involvement in the August EndBadGovernace protests.
In a letter published on his X handle, Pantami, said, “As a compassionate society, it is our collective duty to protect the most vulnerable among us, particularly children. Ensuring their safety, well-being, and justice is not only a moral obligation but also a fundamental human right.”
Pantami referenced the Child’s Rights Act 2003, Section 11, which states that every child is entitled to respect for their dignity and should not be subjected to physical, mental, or emotional injury, abuse, neglect, or maltreatment.
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