2 hours ago
5
JUSTICE Obiora Egwuatu of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday granted a N10 million bail to each of the 114 #EndBadGovernance protesters arraigned by the Federal Government on charges bordering on treasonable felony, rioting, destruction of public property, assaulting security officials, looting, among others.
They were arraigned in two batches of 76 and 42.
However, four out of the first 76 were not tried because they collapsed in the courtroom.
The four, who were minors and looking very malnourished, fainted as they approached the dock for arraignment with their lawyers rushing to give them aid.
The prosecuting counsel applied to the court for the four suspects who fainted to get first aid and be arraigned later.
Justice Egwuatu on seeing the situation called a brief recess to enable the protesters who were sick to be attended to.
Upon resumption, the court granted the prayers for four suspects to be excempted from the arraignment to a later date.
The defendants are made up of minors and other protesters arrested from several locations in Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Plateau, Katsina states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Justice Obiora Egwuata remanded the adults at the Kuje prisons in Abuja while the minors are to be remanded at the Bostal Children Home pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
Justice Obiora who said the protesters should present a surety each in like sum, said the sureties for the adults should be civil servants and must provide a valid identity card, proper residential address, passport size photo-graphs, among others.
The minors should either provide a parent or a sibling as surety, with similar particulars.
The 10-count charge bordered on treasonable felony, rioting, destruction of public property, assaulting security officials, looting/theft of public property, among others.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges read to them.
On September 2, the police arraigned 10 #EndBadGover-nance protesters before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who initially granted them bail totalling N100 million.
However, five of the protesters were unable to meet the bail conditions and subsequently filed a variation application which Justice Nwite granted, reducing the bail to N5 million for each of them.
Atiku describes trial as wickedness
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in a statement, condemned the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government for detaining and prosecuting children in connection with the recent #End-BadGovernance protests.
In the statement issued on Friday, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election criticised the administration’s actions as indicative of a broader systemic in-humanity.
“A disturbing video depicting malnourished children being arraigned before a Federal High Court has sparked outrage, drawing parallels to historical injustices and highlighting the government’s disregard for the welfare of vulnerable populations,” Atiku said.
He emphasised that the treatment of the children is a blatant violation of their rights and dignity as enshrined in the Child’s Rights Act.
The Child’s Rights Act explicitly states that every child is entitled to respect for their dignity, prohibiting physical, mental, or emotional abuse.
According to Atiku, the prosecution of the children, allegedly involved in protests that occurred between August 1 and August 10, 2024, reveals not only a lack of empathy but also a failure to uphold the law intended to protect the nation’s youth.
“The horrific scene we witnessed, reminiscent of a Nazi concentration camp, underscores the low value this government places on the lives of our most vulnerable citizens.
“It is abhorrent that children are being criminalized for expressing their discontent with policies that have directly impacted their lives,” Atiku stated.
The former vice president further criticised the timing of the arraignment, which occurred three months after the protests, raising concerns about the conditions these children have endured while in detention.
He questioned the morality of an administration that claims to uphold democracy yet punishes its youngest and most innocent members for exercising their constitutional right to protest.
“The very conditions under which these children were brought to court exemplify the injustices they were protesting against in the first place.
“A nation is truly measured by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, and it is a tragedy that our children are not spared from the cruelty of this administration,” he said.
The #EndBadGovernance protests were sparked by widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s policies, which many citizens view as harsh and draconian.
Read Also: #EndBadGovernance: Detained underage boy collapses as FG arraigns protesters
Atiku underscored the importance of allowing peaceful protests as a means of expressing grievances, especially for those directly affected by such policies.
The former vice president called for an immediate review of the cases against the detained children and for the government to uphold the principles of justice and human dignity.
“We must stand together to protect our children and ensure that their voices are heard, rather than silenced by an oppressive regime,” he said.
