The Northern mouthpiece, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has described the arrest and trial of minors in the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests as a sign of authoritarian and intolerant regime, aimed at muscling the citizens.
ACF said the trial of the minors was a show of shame and demonstration of needless official high-handedness at its worst.
To this end, ACF in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba demanded that the Federal Government should halt the detention and trial of the minors, release and return them to their families unharmed.
“ACF joins other Nigerians, national and international human rights groups in strongly condemning this charade of a trial and naked, strong-arm tactic, reminiscent of strategies employed by authoritarian and intolerant but weak regimes aimed at muscling citizens. In particular, ACF demands that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) should immediately halt the detention and trial of these citizens; release the “suspects” and return them to their families unharmed; investigate the circumstances that led to the detention of the so-called 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 counselling 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.
“The ACF decries this naked demonstration of untamed power that the trial represents, which is clearly conceived to intimidate and subdue citizens who may contemplate exercising their inalienable rights to protest and or express grievances through constitutionally guaranteed means
“Like millions of Nigerians, it is with utter consternation that the ACF observed the spectacle of fellow citizens, hauled before a Federal High Court at Abuja, on trial on allegations of treason, and other offences, arising from their participation in the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests. The suspects consist mostly of minors. The trial is a show of shame and it is as crass, gross and disturbing as can be.
“It is also 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.
“The very unhelping and insensitive words, to the press, of the prosecuting attorney and those of the Inspector-General of Police were just as distressing, amounting to an attempt to rationalise 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 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.
“ACF is disappointed in the apparent resort to abandoning court by the trial judge as well as the unreasonable bail conditions he granted the detainees. 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! Shorn of all niceties or political correctness, the trial simply assaults common sense and it is, in this regard as scandalous and reckless as can be.
“The saga also portrays the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) Administration in very bad light, domestically and internationally and obvious in reportage of the matter in major international news channels, the ACF decries this naked demonstration of untamed power that the trial represents, which is clearly conceived to intimidate and subdue citizens who may contemplate exercising their inalienable rights to protest and or express grievances through constitutionally guaranteed means.
“Abinitio, ACF had warned Northern youths, ahead of the protests, to be wary of being manipulated into a collective action of dubious utility. Still, absolutely nothing in the so-called trial for treason justifies FGN’s treatment of the detained citizens”. The statement said.
THE SUN
