The Nigerian Police and National Human Rights Commission on Friday were engaged in à heated debate over the legality of jailing minors arrested at protest grounds for felony and treasonable offences.
The debate took place at the public presentation of a research report titled ‘Beyond the Protests: An Explanatory Study of the #EndBadGovernance protest in Nigeria’ organised by Kimpact Development Initiative in Abuja.
In August last year, Nigeria witnessed widespread demonstrations under the #EndBadGovernance movement, driven by public dissatisfaction to protest the economic hardships and governance issues ravaging the country.
The demonstrations, however, escalated, leading to the arrest of 76 individuals, including 30 minors, who were charged with offences such as treason and inciting a military coup.
The Inspector General of Police had arraigned them on 10 counts bordering on treason, intent to destabilise Nigeria and inciting to mutiny by calling on the military to take over the government from President Bola Tinubu, among others.
However, the President was compelled to grant them pardons following the outrage that trailed their continued detention.
Reacting on Friday, NHRC Executive Secretary, Anthony Ojukwu, argued that the manner the police went about prosecuting the kids without due process was unprofessional.
Ojukwu was represented by the commission’s Head of Monitoring, Benedict Agu.
He said, “It is true the law says no child below seven is liable for prosecution. But as a human rights advocate, we disagree with the police with regard to how those minors were treated. We were among the first few people to interview these children when they were remanded.
“The challenge we had was trying to know the rationale behind bringing up and charging these children for treason. As we all saw, some of them even collapsed in the courtroom.
“So what should be the basis for a mature officer of the law to say that a child who raises another country’s flag is guilty of treason? After all, the same law says there should be a particular due process that should be followed. Why didn’t they follow it?”
But the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, noted that the police were not against peaceful protest but causing violence and any act aimed at bringing down the government of the day was treason.
