Tinubu orders AGF to review treason charge against detained minors

LPresident Bola Tinubu has directed the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to review the cases of about 76 minors facing treason charge in Abuja

The directive is coming amid the international embarrassment and national outrage over the development.

Tinubu on Friday ordered the AGF to review the cases and make recommendations accordingly.

That was after the Nigerian presidency came under scrutiny for maltreating underage children accused of bogus charges for participating in the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in August.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court had granted stringent bail to over 70 persons, including minors for their alleged roles in the protests.

Five minors out of the 76 defendants meant to be arraigned on Friday, however, slumped inside the courtroom and were rushed to the hospital.

The minors had been taken back to Kuje Prison following difficulties in meeting their bail conditions.

The court granted each of the defendants N10 million bail among other stringent terms.

However, one of the counsel for the protesters, Deji Adeyanju, lamented that the stringent bail conditions imposed by the court on the protesters who had been in custody since August, meant they had to be taken back to prison custody.

Human rights and advocacy groups across the country have accused President Bola Tinubu of running a cruel, heinous, and punitive government.

The groups said this in separate statements issued on Friday while condemning the continued detention and prosecution of #EndBadGovernance protesters.

The groups demanded the unconditional release of all detained protesters, especially minors; immediate suspension of all stringent bail conditions granted to the protesters; transparent investigation into the maltreatment of underage detainees, including starvation, physical abuse, and psychological trauma at IRT and other detention centers, and an end to the criminalisation of protests and dissent voices in the country.

One of the statements was jointly signed by Comrade Gerald O Katchy of the National Secretary Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; Omole Ibukun of the Creative Change Centre; Salako Kayode of the Revolutionary Socialist Movement; Hauwa Mustapha of the ASVAB and Comrade Destiny Destiny of the Civil Rights Council.

Others are Agena Robert Ande of Take it Back Movement; Maxwell Adeyemi of the Socialist Labour; Adekunle Gbolahan of the Democratic Socialist Movement and Youth Rights Campaign, and Chinedu Chinedu of the Movement for African Emancipation.

The groups said the arraignment of the protesters before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja exposed the gross and tone-deaf indifference of all arms of the Nigerian government to justice and the well-being of Nigerians.