STILL battling to see if I can recover from the shock arising from the gory and horrifying images of dozens of teenagers, some of them evidently malnourished minors docked in an Abuja Federal High Court on Friday on charges of treason, felony and inciting the public to mutiny. These children whose ribs had become visible as a result of their three month detention ordeal were part of citizens of varied age groups and social standing currently standing trial for peacefully protesting to the government of the day that there was scotching hunger and increased hardship in the land. They may have thought, albeit wrongly, that a democratic government should be a responsible and responsive government. Their protest of August 1-10 across the major cities of the country was by every legal and democratic standards, within their rights as citizens.
The response they got from the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government has been to round them up and have them locked up in some maximum security facilities. The nation’s justice system was apparently up for trial as the 76 people, including 30 minors were charged with treason and inciting a military coup through their participation in the August protests against economic hardship which by the way is getting the more unbearable by the day. Nigerians and the global community have expressed horror at the sight of the minors with many saying the video footage from the court was a rather sad reminder of what people went through at the infamous Nazi concentration camp in Germany.
I feel appalled as a citizen that children who ought to be in school are rotting away in prison facilities for being part of a protest to call the attention of the federal government to the pervasive hunger and intensified hardship across the country. That it took the federal government a stretch of three months before arraigning the protesters further confirms an institutionalized inhuman treatment to children. This runs in utter contravention of the provisions of section 11 of the Child’s Right Act which states that ‘ Every child is entitled to respect for the dignity of their person. The trial Judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu was forced to halt proceedings when four of the minors collapsed in court and had to be rushed to a nearby clinic to be resuscitated for them to be kept alive to face the rigours of the treason trial. I have been battling within me to see how to establish a justifiable nexus between calling the attention of government to self evident hunger and actionable treason especially as it concerns minors and teenagers.
President Bola Tinubu was reported to have vowed to pursue with the policies that triggered up the current hardship in the country because in his words, the policies are needed to keep the country afloat.
The charge sheet said the suspects had been investigated. Although the Attorney General and minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi had indicated at the weekend that the charges against the minors could be dropped,
The charge sheet said the suspects had been investigated. Although the Attorney General and minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi had indicated at the weekend that the charges against the minors could be dropped, so much harm has already been done to the acutely traumatized psych of a pauperized citizenry. Nigerians are grappling with a severe cost-of-living crisis and widespread insecurity which has damaged the farming sector, with armed gangs kidnapping residents and school children for ransom in various parts of the country. Families are finding it extremely difficult to feed. Many have turned beggrs. Responding to citizens’ action of peaceful protest with a treason charge smacks of an insensitive and despotically draconian government. Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora have roundly criticised the justice system insisting that at least one-third of those brought in for the initial court hearing on Friday were boys aged between 14 and 18.All 76 defendants were said to have pleaded not guilty to the charges of treason, felony and inciting mutiny.Activists said the defendants had been in custody since August under very inhuman and debasing conditions. Amnesty International has insisted that “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.” In the naivity of my nativity I have had ways of seeing government from a father figure. In that light, I am still aghast as to what manner of father figure will slam his children with treason charges and detention for bringing to their notice the fact that they are facing unprecedented hunger, increased hardship and suffocating insecurity? The federal government has failed in its primary responsibility in this regard.These teenagers have been remanded in prison for over three months for saying they were hungry. Their place ought to be in school, not prison. Some of them accused of flying Russian flags cannot in all sincerity place where Russia is in the world map neither can they tell the difference between Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. They were simply asking for basic welfare from a government that traces its legitimacy to the votes cast by the people.
The nation is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation with annual inflation that stands at more than 30% and food prices are steadily sky rocketing. Adding a draconian clampdown on voices of opposition and freedom of expression will be taking us to the State of nature where life is predictable short and nasty. Let’s give this democracy some form of human face.
