Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has indicated an intention to request compensation for minors detained over the #EndBadGovernance protest.
Falana, who is the counsel to the suspected protesters spoke shortly after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday directed the release of the minors.
The minors are among the 76 defendants charged with treasonable felony before a Federal High Court in Abuja, over the protests which lasted from August 1 to 10. At the hearing on Friday, they were granted N10 million bail bond each and remanded pending the fulfilment of the terms.
Outrage had trailed the treatment of the minors and the condition in which they were brought to court, with many calling for the immediate release of the suspects.
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Tinubu’s directives
Addressing State House correspondents yesterday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the president’s release order was without prejudice to whatever legal process that was ongoing.
The minister, who was flanked by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga and the Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and National Orientation, Sunday Dare, said a committee has been set up to investigate the circumstances surrounding the issue.
Idris said any government officer found wanting in the cause of the investigation would be made to face the law.
He said: “I had a short briefing with Mr. President early this evening (Monday) and he has directed the immediate release of all the minors that have been arrested by the police.
“The president has also directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction to immediately see to the welfare of those minors, and also take part to ensure their smooth reunion with their parents or guardians, wherever they are in the country”, the minister said.
He further said: “The president has directed that a committee will be set up immediately to be headed by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, an Administrative Committee to look at all the issues surrounding the arrest, detention, the treatment, and finally, the release of these minors.
“The president has also directed that all the law enforcement agents involved in the arrest and the legal processes will be investigated, and if there are any infractions, found to have been committed by any official of the government, be he a law enforcement agent, or whoever that person may be, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken”, he said.
In his remarks, Sunday Dare added that the case file is already with the Attorney-General of the Federation.
He said: “The president’s directive covers all the detained minors including an additional three arraigned alongside 16 adults over the #EndBadGovernance protest in Borno State”.
Reacting, the lawyer to the suspected protesters, Femi Falana said: “We will wait until the matter is withdrawn tomorrow, we will then ask the defendants what they want to be done before we can make the application.
“We hope they will withdraw the matter tomorrow (Tuesday)”, he said.
Falana had filed a notice of preliminary objection asking the judge to decline jurisdiction in the case and for an order mandating the complainant to pay the children’s school fees till at least senior secondary school or university level.
Falana said the application is 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.”
Falana argued that the Federal High Court “lacks the jurisdiction to try them by Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution,” stressing that, under “Section 204 of the Child’s Rights Act, they can only be subjected to the child justice system.”
AGF moves to takeover, discontinue case today
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has commenced processes of taking over and possibly discontinuing proceedings on all the minors today.
The office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice had yesterday obtained a hearing notice to appear and move the motion for a takeover of the proceedings from the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun.
With the latest directive by the president, it is expected that the AGF will move for a discontinuance of the charges today.
Daily Trust gathered last night that the minors are being held at a remand home in Apo in the FCT, while the four, who fainted and were admitted at the Federal High Court clinic, were referred to another hospital on the same Friday, they were taken in after the initial treatment.
Defence lawyer seeks bail variation for remanded adults
Earlier, counsel to some of the defendants from Kano, Barr. Hamza Nuhu Dantalli, said he had filed all the necessary applications for the variation of the bail terms imposed on his clients who are adults.
He said the Kano State government had also requested the transfer of cases of indigenes of the state involved in the protest, to the state.
Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the arraignment of the minors over 90 days after their arrest from different states in the northern part of the country.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State condemned the action, describing it as inhumane.
Mohammed said: “I have received calls from different parts of the country on the issue. We are deeply concerned about the situation. Their handling shows a lack of empathy as they were left with hunger and exposed to adversities. It scared us. But I believe the federal government will listen to the outcries of Nigerians.”
A former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Nigeria Nnsuka (UNN) and former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Professor Joy Ezeilo, on her X handle, condemned the treatment of the minors.
“Children’s rights are human rights and Nigerian children’s rights must be respected and upheld. Children who are in conflict with the law should be redirected away from the formal judicial process,” she said.
By John Chuks Azu, Baba Martins, Dalhatu Liman (Abuja) & Hamisu Kabir Matazu (Maiduguri)
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