CSOs, Falana fault treason charges, urge release of minors, others

.NHRC criticizes police over ‘inhumane’ treason charges

The arrest and detention of hungry children and other #EndBadGovernance protesters across the country have caught the attention of pressure groups, civil society groups from across the country and personalities.

Among them that have raised their voices to call for the release of the detainees are the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana.

Similarly, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has strongly condemned the arraignment of minors on treason charges by the Nigerian police following their involvement in protests.

SERAP urged President Bola Tinubu to use his good offices to direct the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) to take urgent steps to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all the #EndBadGovernance protesters including the 32 “hungry and malnourished children.”

According to the civil society group, the children and other protesters are detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.
It urged Tinubu to direct Fagbemi and appropriate law enforcement agencies to promptly investigate the circumstances surrounding the grave violations of the human rights of the children and other protesters in detention and to identify and bring to justice those responsible and ensure justice and remedies for the victims.

Deputy Director of the SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, in a letter at the weekend, also urged the President to give them access to medical treatment for their apparently deteriorating health.

According to him, bringing charges against children and detaining them simply for the peaceful exercise of their human rights is not acting in the best interest of the child.

In the letter copied to the Chair-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Dr Matthew Gillett, the body emphasised that the detention of the 32 hungry and malnourished children also infringed on their right to education, lamenting that the children ought to be in school, and not languishing in detention.

On their part, NEF and other advocacy groups condemned the Federal Government for detaining minors who protested against hunger and poor governance, describing their detention as a violation of constitutional rights and an affront to international human rights standards.
The minors, detained for over three months without trial, reportedly endured harsh conditions.

Spokesperson for NEF, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said the government’s actions amounted to “shameful and unacceptable impunity.”
Suleiman criticised the arbitrary detention and treason charges against these children, calling it “A grotesque abuse of power and a blatant disregard for fundamental rights.”

He emphasised that treason, by definition, requires intent and understanding, which children lack, making the charges both “legally dubious and morally reprehensible.”
He said: “The detaining and accusing of mostly Northern Nigerian minors for treason amounts to shameful and unacceptable impunity by the federal government.
ACF urged the Federal Government to release the protesters, who were arraigned on treason charges before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The forum, in a statement, yesterday, by the National Publicity Secretary, Prof Tukur Muhammed-Baba, asserted: “The suspects consist mostly of minors. The trial is a show of shame and it is as crass, gross and disturbing as can be. It is also a demonstration of needless official high-handedness at its worst. Equally unsettling was the dramatic departure from the court of the presiding judge on sighting some of the under-aged detainees collapsing from hunger and suffering.

“ACF views these citizens as victims of the Nigerian criminal justice administration system and mindless bureaucracy. The very insensitive words, to the press, of the prosecuting attorney and those of the Inspector-General of the Police were just as distressing, amounting to an attempt to rationalise (‘justify’ is a very wrong term to apply) the mis-action, adding to the absurdity of the sham trial.”
FALANA asked a federal high court in Abuja to dismiss the reason charges against 76 #EndBadGovernance protesters.

There was chaos at the high court on Friday after some minors, who were among the 76 protesters charged to court, collapsed while waiting to be arraigned.
The defendants, who were arrested in Abuja, Kaduna, Gombe, Jos, Katsina and Kano states, have been accused of treason, among other offences.

In a preliminary objection filed before the court, the defendants, through Falana, submitted that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the charge.
Falana also argued that in line with Section 18 (3) (a) (b) (c) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 15 of the Child’s Rights Act, Section 2 of the Universal Basic Education Act, and Article 17 of the African Charter, the underaged defendants ought not to be tried.

The lawyer also submitted that some counts did not disclose an offence for which the defendants/applicants can be charged/arraigned.
YORUBA Youth Socio-Cultural Association (YYSA) appealed to the Federal Government to ensure the unconditional release of the minors.

The National President of YYSA, Habib Hammed, made the call in a statement to journalists in Ibadan.
He said the minors were ignorantly recruited as agents of destruction, pointing out that many of them should have learnt their lessons while in detention.

The youth leader urged parents to take good care of their children to avoid being used as a tool by politicians.
NHRC asserted that the police’s actions contravened national, regional and international child protection laws and that the charges signify an excessive and inappropriate use of state power against children.

Executive Secretary of NHRC, Dr Tony Ojukwu, highlighted, yesterday, that the charges, which include treason and attempting to overthrow the government, were unjustified and inappropriate.

He noted that the minors had been detained since August 2024 and that the judge imposed bail conditions so severe that the children could not meet them, effectively prolonging their detention until January 2025.

The commission called on the judiciary and police to uphold children’s rights and called for broader juvenile justice reforms to prevent similar cases in the future.