The Federal Government has withdrawn the treason charges against minors who participated in the recent #EndBadGovernance protests held across the country. On Tuesday, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, officially took over the case and notified the Federal High Court in Abuja about the decision to discontinue the case against the protesters.
The application for discontinuance, made by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, was based on provisions of Sections 174(1)(b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015. The DPPF also requested that the proceedings be conducted without the minors present in the courtroom, in accordance with Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Child Rights Act.
Human rights lawyer Mr. Femi Fanala, SAN, along with other defense attorneys involved in the case, stated they had no objections to the applications. Consequently, Justice Obiora Egwuatu struck out the charges. It was reported that four minors were among the 76 individuals charged by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for participating in the protest and collapsed before they could be arraigned in court last Friday.
The teenagers, aged 14 to 17, appeared ill and malnourished after being assembled for arraignment. Following this incident, the police removed the four affected teenagers from the charge sheet and proceeded with arraigning the other defendants, who were subsequently granted stringent bail conditions. In light of public outcry regarding the arraignment of the minors, the Attorney General ordered the police to transfer the case file to his office for review.
Less than 24 hours after this directive, President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate withdrawal of the charges and an in-depth investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of the minors. More details will follow.
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