From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has directed the transfer of the case file of #EndBadGovernance protesters from the office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
This is coming amid outrage over the arraignment of minors among the protesters and the subsequent adjournment of their trial to January 2025.
The 118 protesters including minors, ages between 12 and 15, have spent over 80 days in police custody. They were allegedly arrested on August 3 and 4, 2024, and had since been in detention. They were arraigned on Friday, before the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 10-count charge bordering on treasonable felony, rioting, destruction of public property, assaulting security officials, and looting/theft of public property, among others.
Recall that four minors among the defendants collapsed in Court as the charges were about to be read, forcing the court to abruptly halt proceedings.
However, at the resumed proceedings, all the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges read to them, as four Minors were excluded from taking their plea due to ill health. They are to be arraigned at a later date.
Justice Egwuatu Obiora granted each of the defendants bail in the sum of N10 million with two sureties each, in like sum and subsequently adjourned the trial to January 2025. The court remanded the adults at the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, while the minors were being remanded at the Bostal Children’s Home, pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
While the trial has triggered outrage among Nigerians, human rights activists, civil society groups, politicians, as well as Amnesty International, have called for immediate release of the protesters.
Reacting to the development in a statement, the AGF said he had directed a transfer of the case file from the police.
Titled: “EndBadGovernance Protest: AGF Intervenes, Seeks Casefile From Police”, the statement personally signed by the AGF, reads: “It has just come to my notice that the police have arraigned those arrested in connection with the endbadgovernance violent protest in court for various offences including treason.
“There are some issues my office will need to look into regarding the matter to enable me to make an informed decision.
“I am aware that the court has remanded the defendants in detention centres and adjourned the case to January.
“It is not within my power to vary the order of the court remanding the defendants in detention centres and adjourning the case to January. I have, however, directed the Nigeria Police to transfer the casefile to my office and hand over the same to the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF) tomorrow, Saturday, 2nd November, 2024.
“I have further directed the DPPF to immediately put machinery in motion for consideration of the court to bring the adjournment date forward (an earlier date).”
