Mixed reactions have continued to trail the release of all minors prosecuted in court for their participation in the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations.
News reports that President Bola Tinubu directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to ensure the immediate release of the minors detained by the Nigeria Police in connection to last August’s protests.
The directive came days after some suspects, including minors, were charged with treason and inciting a military coup after they were seen waving Russian flags during the #EndBadGovernance protests against economic hardship.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who made the announcement during an emergency briefing at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, said after examining the circumstances surrounding the cases, Tinubu issued the directive, emphasising the importance of balancing legal processes with humanitarian concerns.
“I had a short briefing with Mr President this evening, and he has directed the immediate release of all the minors that have been arrested by the Nigerian police without prejudice to whatever legal processes.
“They are all minors. The President has directed that all of them be released immediately,” he announced.
Recalls that in August, Nigeria witnessed widespread protests under the #EndBadGovernance movement, driven by public dissatisfaction with economic hardships and governance issues.
The demonstrations escalated, leading to the arrest of several individuals, including 30 minors aged between 14 and 17, who were charged with serious offences such as treason and inciting a military coup.
Reports stated that Many Nigerians, including civil society organizations expressed outrage over the arraignment of the suspects, including 32 minors, before Justice Obiora Egwuatu at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court for participating in the #EndBadGovernance protests, with civil society groups and rights activists slamming the police and the government over the matter.
Amnesty International condemned in strong terms how the Nigerian authorities used the stringent bail conditions to justify the arbitrary detention of the minors, saying the children should not have been detained in the first place.
“With millions of people on the brink of starvation, widespread malnutrition and deep poverty, President Bola Tinubu’s government should urgently be addressing widespread hunger and the rapidly falling standard of living, instead of prioritising punishing protesters,” the group wrote on X.
Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, described the trial of the children as a brutal targeting of protesters.
It is an attempt by Nigerian authorities to instill fear, evade scrutiny, deny citizens their fundamental rights and entrench a culture of impunity in the country. Nigeria deserves better than this.
“The Tinubu administration must promptly investigate the apparent ill-treatment of #EndBadGovernance protesters in prison and prosecute those responsible. The administration must immediately and unconditionally release those detained and drop all charges against them,” it demanded.
The Northern governors, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, the presidential candidates of People Democratic Party, PDP, Abubakar Atiku, and Labour Party, Peter Obi, among others, called for immediate release of the minors.
However, President Tinubu, aside ordering immediate release of the minors, also directed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda, to see to the welfare of the minors and ensure their smooth reunion with their parents or guardians, wherever they were in the country.
Reacting to the release of the minors, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana urged the Federal Government to reintegrate and educate all minors arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests, warning of legal action if the government fails to comply.
Falana emphasized that the government’s decision to drop charges against 119 individuals, including 29 minors, is insufficient, stressing the importance of rehabilitation and education for the youths who should have been in school during the protests.
He pointed out that the government’s duty is outlined in the child rights law, which mandates free and compulsory education for all children in Nigeria.
The senior lawyer said, “Just this morning before this program commenced, I was in court in Abuja, where 119 Nigerians, including twenty-nine minors, were brought to court. The government was so ashamed that it couldn’t take them to the courtroom, unlike last week
The government came to court this morning to withdraw the frivolous charges. So, the young people have been freed.
“But as I told the court, it’s not enough to terminate this trial. These young people, who should have been in school during the protests, must be rehabilitated by the government. We will ensure they are rehabilitated and sent to school.
“Coupled with the fact that what they protested for was for a good cause, arresting them and keeping them that long is not good at all. The hardship in this country is in the front of everybody; we are all facing it. So, you can’t beat a child and tell him not to cry.
“The government knew beforehand the protest was coming but did nothing to avert it. Those that charged the minors to court should be arrested and prosecuted.”
According to a Lagos-based lawyer, Sylvester Agih, “the right to protest stems from the right to freedom of expression, which is protected under section 39 of the 1999 constitution”, adding that it allowed citizens to voice their dissatisfaction to government policies adverse to the people’s interests.
“The government ought to either alleviate these hardships or reconsider such policies, rather than accusing protesters of treason, as seen in the case involving the minors.
“It was, however, a significant relief when the Attorney General of the Federation, exercising his powers under section 174 of the Constitution, took over the case from the police and promptly dropped the charges against the minors by entering a nolle prosequi.
“I must also commend President Tinubu for his intervention in the matter by instructing the AGF to step in to resolve the matter by instructing the AGF to step in to resolve the matter amicably,” he added.
If the government fails, we will sue the government. It is the government’s responsibility, according to the child rights law, adopted and enacted by all states of the Federation. Section 15 of that law provides that every child in Nigeria shall receive free and compulsory education from primary to secondary school.”
Reacting to Tinubu’s order, the defence counsel, Marshall Abubakar, urged the government to grant scholarships to the minors upon their release.
Abubakar said, “It is a welcome development. But unfortunately, the country had to suffer very fragile fragments of the society that they owe a duty to protect and safeguard their interest.
This particular situation capitalises on the pitiable state of the country today. It is a welcome development, and we hope the government will live by its promises and take appropriate action to ensure that these children are fully and properly educated from the primary to university levels.
“The government owes them the responsibility of not educating them under section 18 of the Constitution and section 2 of the Universal Basic Education Act. So we call on the government to give these kids scholarships to make up for the trauma that they have suffered at the hands of the Nigerian government.”
The Executive Director of the Rule of Law Advocacy and Accountability Centre, Okechukwu Nwaguma, condemned the initial arrests and prolonged detention of the minors.
“It is good that the President has finally realised that there was really no need in the first place to have arrested minors.
“Arresting them is an abomination, but keeping them in custody for nearly three months in harsh conditions, alongside adults, is an even greater abomination,” Nwaguma said.
He argued that such treatment violates Nigeria’s Child Rights Act, which mandates that all actions involving children prioritise their best interests.
Nwaguma called for the government to publicly apologise to the children, their families, and the nation, and to commit to rehabilitation and reintegration of the minors back into the educational system.
“Those children need rehabilitation and reintegration into the educational system and under the law, those children deserve compensation.
“The President should go ahead to offer a public apology to the country, to those children, their parents, their communities and to the country, and then rehabilitate them. The FG should commit that this kind of thing will not happen again because it is a national shame and international scandal,” he advised.
On his part, the Executive Director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, expressed similar sentiments, saying, “The release of the minors is a belated decision that ought to have happened when they were arrested.”
Adeniran explained that even if the minors had committed offences, they should have been held in juvenile centres known as remand homes rather than in facilities with adult detainees.
He also criticised the government’s intelligence and security networks, arguing that they failed to inform the president of the legal and ethical issues involved in detaining minors.
“The Ministry of Justice should have advised the president appropriately on why minors should not be subjected to such a harrowing experience under detention,” he added, calling for heads to roll within the security and intelligence apparatuses for their failure to prevent the mishandling of the minors’ cases.
Speaking to reporters, an Abuja based lawyer and human right activist, Barrister Maxwell Okpara commended the directive by President Bola Tinubu, urging him to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the officers and individuals behind the arrest of the minors.
He lamented what he described as the dehumanizing situation of the minors who were kept in police custody, stressing that it was not good for the image of Nigeria as a country.
“The President’s directive is a welcome development. The arrest and subsequent arraignment of the minors was a national embarrassment, especially mixing minors with adult suspects in custody is unheard of.
“Saying a minor committed a crime of trying to overthrow a government with another country’s national flag and are kept in custody for 90 days in a dehumanizing situation does not speak well of Nigeria in the international community.
“Let the President ensure that his directives are followed to the last later because it is one thing to issue an order, and another is to ensure that the order is being complied with,” he said.
On his part, a public affairs analyst, Ugo Enwereji berated what he called medicine after death approach, saying the President’s directive showed a reactive approach rather than proactive approach to matters such as this.
He said, “The President’s order is coming a little late because the kids have been in detention for so long. This is rather reactive and we need a proactive government at this moment.