Reasons for releasing children under EndBadGovernance — FG

By Bashir Bello, Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Sola Ogundipe, Adesina Wahab, and Kingsley Omonobi

ABUJA—Two distinct treason accusations against 119 people who were arrested and jailed for taking part in the August nationwide #EndBadGovernance demonstration were dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja Wednesday.

Vice President Kashim Shettima announced their release, stating that it was done out of compassion.

At the same time, human rights advocate Femi Falana, SAN, insisted that the youngsters’ release was insufficient and vowed to sue the federal government if it did not provide education to them.

Remember how the northern governors, the Arewa Consultative Council, the ACF, attorneys, civil society groups, and CSOs, among others, denounced the dehumanising conditions of the youngsters following their arraignment in court in Abuja last Friday?

The children were detained at the holding facility of the Inspector General of Police's Special Response Team, or IRT, in Abuja, where hardcore offenders including as terrorists, robbers, and kidnappers are housed, according to information Vanguard obtained yesterday.

But once Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, withdrew the charges, the court ended further proceedings in the case.

While 32 kids were named as defendants in the first 10-count indictment, designated FHC/CR/503/2024, five minors were named as defendants in the second charge, designated FHC/CR/527/2024, which had four counts.

When the cases were called up yesterday, FG, acting through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, formally took over the case and informed the court of its decision to discontinue the cases, even though the Nigeria Police Force had filed both charges.

The head of the Department of Public Prosecution of the Federation, DPPF, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, filed the discontinuance application, which was based on sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.

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In accordance with section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act and section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, the DPPF also requested that the proceedings be held without the children present in the courtroom.

The defence attorneys, lead by Mr. Femi Fanala, SAN, a frontline human crusader, stated that they had nothing against FG’s request.

Obiora Egwuatu, the trial judge, so dismissed the accusations.

Recall that on Friday, four children who were among the 76 individuals named in one of the charges sagged before they could be arraigned in court.

After being gathered for arraignment, the teens, who looked sick and undernourished and were between the ages of 14 and 17, passed out.

As a result of the discovery, authorities removed the four impacted teens from the charge sheet while still docking the other suspects, who were later given extremely strict release terms by the court.

Due to capacity constraints, some of the prisoners, who had previously been in police custody for more than ninety days, gathered in the dock during their arraignment, while others stood outside the cubicle.
After the youngsters entered not guilty pleas to the charges, Justice Egwuatu granted them each N10 million bail with two sureties in an equivalent amount.

According to his ruling, one of the sureties needs to be a government worker with at least grade level 15 and a verified residence within the court’s jurisdiction.

The court ruled that the defendant’s parent had to be the second surety.

On humanitarian grounds, minors awaiting trial were released—Shettima
Vice President Kashim Shettima, however, stated yesterday following the children’ release that President Bola Tinubu, his principal, had instructed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to expedite the release of the juveniles on treason trial on humanitarian grounds.

He added that the demonstrators’ devastation and suspension of economic activity cost the country more than N300 billion.

According to Shettima, the actors themselves submitted unquestionable digital video and picture proof of the acts and perpetration of some of the demonstrators.

Shortly after Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, withdrew the youngsters’ charges, the Vice President gave a speech while welcoming them at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

“Despite indisputable digital video and photographic evidence of the perpetration and actions, some of which were uploaded by the actors themselves, President Bola Tinubu ordered the suspect’s release on humanitarian grounds,” he claimed.

In light of this evidence, the President, in his capacity as the country’s father, is offering these young men another opportunity to develop into responsible adults who will contribute to the effort to improve Nigeria.

Since over N300 billion was lost in the protests, mostly in the form of destroyed companies and private property, I would want to caution you young men not to let yourselves be exploited to commit acts of violence and damage both public and private property.

Since you are our children, I will exhort and counsel you to take advantage of the President’s kind gesture to make sure you overcome and grow up to be responsible adults who will advance society.

I shall implore our elected officials and governors to remember that, despite political differences, what unites Nigerians is more important than what separates them.

In order to guarantee that these individuals are rehabilitated and reintegrated into our communities, I will rally our two governors and our lawmakers behind a common cause.

Arriving at the presidential palace at midday were the 119 #EndBadGovernance protestors (adults and children) who had been released after being arraigned by the Nigeria Police Force and released by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, or AGF, under the leadership of Lateef Fagbemi, had earlier asked Justice Egwatu to strike out the case against the demonstrators.

The Vice President accepted them on behalf of President Tinubu and gave them to Abba Yusuf of Kano and Uba Sani of Kaduna, the governors of their respective states.

Ministers Tunji Alausa of Education, Nentawe Yilwatda of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Balarabe Lawal of Environment, and Tanko Sununu, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, were in attendance.

At the State House Auditorium in Abuja, Abdullahi Yakasai, Senior Special Assistant on Community Engagement Northwest, was in attendance.

Abubakar Bichi, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, and Jubrin Barau, the deputy president of the Senate, were also in attendance to greet them.

Falana says that FG would be sued if children are not educated.
Femi Falana, a human rights attorney and SAN, stated that he was going to challenge the federal government for failing to guarantee the youngsters attended school as required by the Child Rights Act, even though they had been released.

Falana stated: “I was in the Abuja courts this morning (yesterday), where 119 Nigerians, including 29 minors, were brought to court.” However, unlike last week, the administration was quite embarrassed that we were unable to get them to the courtroom.

“Today morning, the administration appeared in court to drop the baseless accusations. Thus, the youths are now free.

However, as I told the court, ending this trial is insufficient. The government needs to rehabilitate these youths, who should have been in school throughout the protests. Additionally, we will see to it that they receive rehabilitation.

Because the government is accountable for it under the child’s rights law, which has been ratified and made law by every state in the federation, we will take the government to court to sue it if it fails.

According to Section 15 of the legislation, all Nigerian children must receive free, obligatory education from basic school through junior secondary school. This time, we will guarantee that these kids receive free education up to senior high school.

Expert: Released children require mental health assistance
Ms. Titi Tade, a clinical psychologist and medical social worker at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, or LUTH, expressed concern about the impact of the youngsters’ imprisonment and advocated for prompt psychosocial care.

In addition to highlighting the possible trauma the children may have endured, Tade, the Training Director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative of Nigeria, or SURPIN, the country’s premier suicide prevention organisation, voiced concern for the children’s psychological health and emphasised the importance of both individual and family support.

Speaking about the finding over the phone, Tade cautioned that the kids might experience long-term psychological effects, such as maladaptive habits and mental anguish, if they don’t receive the right care.

It goes without saying that the youngsters will experience severe trauma since, as young people, they shouldn’t be in that circumstance. Elderly persons would have most likely broken them, and some of them would have experienced further difficulties. Emotionally, some of them could leave that spot more damaged than when they arrived.

It is possible that they will exhibit new and maladaptive behaviours. Therefore, there are a number of areas that need to be explored in order to provide them with psychosocial assistance,” she said.

Tade said that although children who had families may need therapy and rehabilitation to help them deal with the trauma and reintegrate into society, the difficulties were considerably more severe for the street children.

What does their typical existence entail? Given that some of these kids will undoubtedly come from typical households, are these families functioning and do they require assistance? Since some of the kids could be homeless and without family support, you need figure out what kinds of categories they fit into. This will also help you decide what kind of assistance you can provide.