Trial of anti-bad governance protesters

What with massive floods whether in Nigeria, Senegal, Libya or Spain; wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes in the United States; earthquake in Syria! Florida and Louisiana are particularly prone to hurricanes year after year between July, through August and October. This year it witnessed Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. In the Spain’s floods, 95 persons died. In France, losses in property came to $420 million (Euros). Hurricane Milton cost America between 20 and 60 billion Dollars in insured losses, according to ReliefWeb online report.

In the awakening of all that is dead by the pressure of the Light, humaneness is assailed, kindness and empathy suffer and man’s inhumanity to man takes over, thrown to the fore. How do we explain the detention of 119 young men, 30 of them who are clearly minors? Their ages ranged from 14 to 17 years. Their appearance was an embarrassment: malnourished, haggard and predictably weak. Four of them fainted in court, according to reports. A great many will surely be awaiting the report of an enquiry the Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered into the maltreatment written all over them which happened to them while in detention.

And please, wait for this. The 76 of them, including 30 minors, were charged with treason! What is more absurd and disgusting is that the court slammed each of them with N10 million bail and a surety of standing and means. They had been in detention for three months. The Justice administration, from the police, Ministries of Justice and the court should admit the case against the boys was badly handled. The handling hurts sensibilities.

Minors who commit crimes, or who are vagabonds menacing neighbourhoods and the land should, of course, be arrested and kept away. Such minors have their own courts called juvenile courts where they are tried and throughout their trial, they are shielded from cameras so that their faces are not shown to the world in order to protect their future. It is the rule and ethics that pictures of minors on trial are not published. Of course, when they are found guilty of charges drawn against them, they should be punished commensurately which will teach them lessons and serve as deterrent.

The government should not encourage children who lack proper parental care being thrown onto the streets destroying property and carting away goods. True love does not lie in indulgence. What kind of society would we be breeding by condoning grave misconduct? It would mean the country has no future. Has any thought been given to people whose properties were damaged and their goods carted away? It will be cruel to simply say to them sorry and dismiss their lot as one of those things. In the event they took loans to set up their enterprises, who repays the loans? Entrepreneurs who may not have anything to do with government!

The government was right in setting the boys free only because they had stayed unnecessarily in detention. Whether they will turn a new leaf or not, to become good and responsible citizens is a different matter. It is hoped that health experts, psychologists and minders to whom they have been handed over will bring them back from their traumatic experiences.