A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Northern Youths Assembly on Saturday asked President Bola Tinubu to order the withdrawal of all charges against the minors who are tried for alleged participation in the recent EndBadGovernance protests in the country.
In a press statement signed by the group’s President, Dr Ali Idris Mohammed and its Secretary General, Dr Garba Abdulhafiz, urged Tinubu to order “the release of the boys unconditionally, to avoid further embarrassment to the Government and to the Nigerian criminal justice system, in the interest of fairness, upholding the rule of law and principles of democracy.”
Reports however indicated that the minors had been detained by the police since August, and on Friday collapsed inside the courtroom of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
This took place when the minors were brought to court from various police detention cells, including those from the Intelligence Response Team unit.
The statement read: ”The National Leadership of the Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa), on behalf of the Nineteen Northern States Chapters, wishes to unequivocally express our dismay over the content of a viral video showing some underage children looking hungry, depressed, dog-tired and malnourished, arraigned before the high court in Abuja, on the charges of raising some foreign flags during an end bad governance protest which took place from the 1st to 10th August, 2024, across the country.
“It’s our ardent belief that the event at the court was nothing but an additional damage done to the little integrity left of the Nigerian Judiciary and the Nigerian criminal administration system as a whole. This has therefore constituted what could be best described as devastating, heartbreaking, pathetic and appalling,” it said.
The group noted that the Nigerian criminal law has provided that all criminal cases must be presented before the court not later than 48 hours, and that anything contrary to this may amount to an infringement on the fundamental rights of any suspect, “except on some conditions, especially under the strict instructions of a competent court of law.”
It argued that the continued detention of the “helpless and poor children by the Federal Government authorities, is not only a blatant disregard to the provisions of the laws of the land, but also a deliberate scheme to destroy the future of those young people or even jeopardize their lives.”
It also contended that raising foreign flags by the citizens of a particular country during a protest had become a global practice and indicated nothing but a practical dissatisfaction of the citizens toward the Government of the day.
“It is our understanding that this Government has assumed the status of an undemocratic regime which has no regard for the written or extant laws of the land, and systematically transforming the Government into an authoritarian administration characterized by nepotism, favoritism and ill-feelings against some particular sections of the country.
“It could be recalled that a few weeks ago, the Yoruba Nation advocate, Mr Sunday Igboho, organized and led a protest in London, declaring their open resolution to separate from Nigeria and announcing their commitment toward the establishment of a Yoruba Nation.
“Mr Sunday Igboho equally submitted a petition to the UK Prime Minister, seeking for his support to actualize the agitation for Yoruba Nation, and yet nobody has been arrested till now.
“The APC Government began the trial of minors who were arrested in August for participation in a protest against the APC’s poor governance. Unfortunately, some of these young protesters appeared in court visibly malnourished, and many of them collapsed due to severe hunger and sickness after enduring a prolonged detention of over 90 days by the Nigerian authorities.
“The sight of these starving youths detained simply for speaking out or participating in the national protest, is an affront to criminal justice system, humanity and democracy
“It is both unacceptable and deeply disquieting that children, minors, and young Nigerians have been held since August on the allegation that they had sought to destabilize the government.
“These allegations are not only unfounded but also reveal a disturbing disregard for the rights and welfare of these young people as Nigerians,” the group stated.
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