#EndBadGovernance: ACF asks FG to Halt ‘sham’ treason trial

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on the Federal Government to halt the treason trial of #EndBadGovernance protesters.

The ACF, while reacting to the trial of minors at a Federal High Court, Abuja, over allegations of treason, and other offences, arising from their participation in the August 2024 protests, described the trial as a show of shame.

The statement signed by the ACF National Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, further described the trial of minors as 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.

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“The very unhelping and 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 rationalize (“justify” is a very wrong term to apply) the mis-action, adding to the absurdity of the sham trial. A telling symptom of a justice system gone wild is that the suspects were offered bail for the sum of N10 million each plus some other stringent conditions. From their looks, most of the detainees cannot raise as little as N10,000 to post bail.

“Subsequent statements by senior government officials to the effect that the welfare of the detainees will henceforth be taken care of does not inspire confidence. Similarly, the hint that the detainees may be tried in juvenile courts also begs the question: these hapless citizens should not be detained or tried at all, especially as the instigators of the protests have been freely roaming the streets,” he said.

While expressing ACF’s disappointment in the apparent resort to abandoning court by the trial judge as well as the unreasonable bail conditions he granted the detainees, he said, “It was not just the impossible monetary condition but to ask the detainees to provide sureties who must be senior government officials is beyond belief, these being citizens from the lower rungs of society who may never have been to Abuja!”

The ACF joined other Nigerians, national and international human rights groups to strongly condemn the ‘charade of a trial and naked, strong-arm tactic, reminiscent of strategies employed by authoritarian and intolerant but weak regimes aimed at muscling citizens’.

The ACF however demanded that the FG to investigate the circumstances that led to the detention of the suspects for over three months, way beyond the constitutional limits of 24 hours, extend financial compensation to the detainees for their unnecessary and unjustified detention for over three months arrange medical examination, treatment and provide professional psychological evaluation and counseling to the detainees; and re-evaluate its strategies for processing protests strictly in line with constitutional due processes, principles of good governance and international best practices.