Agenda Papers Editorial: Condemning the heartless, obnoxious, shameful arrest, detention & arraignment of minors in Abuja court—By Austine Uche-Ejeke

Nigeria once again was on the global news last week Thursday for the bad reasons when pictures and videos of malnourished minors arraigned in an Abuja court went viral.

The pathetic situation is a fall out of the nation-wide protest against hunger and bad governance by Nigerian citizens which obviously did not go down well with the government of the day.

Thus about 50 or more of such minors were picked from Kano and transported to Abuja since August spanning a period of three months without trial.

The place and condition of their detention is another sad story on its own as the minors have been kept in a dreaded detention camp in Abuja with attendant torture and starvation.

The point must be stressed here that in all situations anybody that runs fowl of the law must face the music and that the law must take its course no matter what .We don’t support or condone acts of arson, waton destruction or any form of criminality against the state.

But in this situation what could make the security agencies and the federal government to keep such a number of minors whose age ranges from 12-15 years in detention for such length of time. What offence did they commit. Their offence was participation in the national protest against hunger, excruciating economic hardship and bad governance by Nigerians in the month of August .But it seems that the government of the day frowns at anything protest as they see it as dissent and treasonable felony offence.

Interestingly major players of this very administration gained popularity and visibility through the act of demonstration and protests. President Tinubu himself is not only the architect, sponsor, financier of protests but physically participated in many protests in the past. His days as a NADECO chieftain speaks volumes of a man who challenges government at the slightest provocation.

The most annoying thing about the trial of these minors is the pretence of the president feigning ignorance of the whole thing and ordering the Attorney General of the federation to review the case. The question is does it mean that a whole president does not know that such minors are under detention since August. The reason for this question is predicated on the fact that as a president there is a 24 hour submission of security reports on his table and Tinubu cannot swear with the Koran that such number of minors have been in detention since August without his knowledge.

Another pathetic side to the whole episode is that of the lawyer leading the federal government prosecution team coming on national television to say there was nothing like the arraignment of minors in the court rather those that were arraigned were adults. According to the lawyer the minors Nigerians and indeed the whole world saw on television were the children of the adults who traveled all the way from Kano to Abuja to visit their parents in the court. Imagine such absurdity and brazen lies from a lawyer who himself is a father with children of that age bracket.

To make matters worse the inspector general of police Kayode Egbetokun on his own came out to say that those who showcased the terribly malnourished minors and the fainting inside the court did that for cheap popularity and to weep up sentiments. Just imagine what is coming out of the mouth of a supposed chief law enforcement officer of the country. How low and depraved can a country go under this Tinubu’s regime. To buttress and support his boss Muyiwa Adejobi, the police PPRO came out to say that a child from seven years and above can be arraigned and prosecuted in the court! Just imagine!

The judiciary on its own is not helping matters too. According to the trial judge, Justice Egwuatu who fled the court room when the minor fainted at the end of the day still slammed N10 million bail on each of the minors. N10 million bail on hunger devastated children who from all indications their parents may not have up N5000 in their account! Where will the sum of N380 million be raised to secure the bail of these 38 minors.This is a country where the elites walk away with less bail conditions. For instance it’s in this country that the Abia state house of representatives member Alex Ikwechegh who slapped the living hell out of a Bolt driver was given N500,000 bail and was asked to go home that same day!

Thank God the whole world have come out in strong condemnation of this viscous act and we at Agenda Papers also vehemently condemn it. World bodies like Amnesty international had this to say : ‘Putting minors through these horrifying detentions for participating in protests against hunger and corruption is – so far – one of the deadliest attempts to suppress freedom of assembly’.

What the government does not know is that these are the kind of injustice and inhuman treatment that can stir up revolution and unrest. Per adventure if any of those minors die in detention it could provoke nationwide protest that can destabilize the country.

The president or is it the attorney general of the federation should as a matter of urgent national interest order the pardon and release of these minors, after all it is in this same country that politicians who stole billions of naira are granted state pardon and asked to go home and enjoy their looted billions.

Nothing and I repeat nothing should happen to these minors. Further detention or death of any of them will spark off a terrible and violent protest that this government may not be able to contend with.

A stitch in time will not only save nine but avert catastrophe that may explode in the event of not allowing these minors to go home now in one piece.

***Austine Uche-Ejeke, a public affairs analyst and publisher of Agenda Papers wrote vide eaustineuche@yahoo.com