Korede Abdullah in Lagos
Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Bodunrin Daodu, SAN, has joined in lending his voice to condemn the Federal Government’s actions of arraigning malnourished and emaciated minors in Abuja on November 1, 2024, on treason charges.
The minors, who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protests in August, have spent over three months in dehumanizing detention conditions.
The former NBA president argued that the charges were excessive and unjustified, pointing out that the minors should have been tried for lesser offenses such as conduct likely to cause a breach of peace, unlawful assembly, or theft, the offenses which he said are handled by state courts and are bailable.
Daudu stated that the Attorneys-General has no jurisdiction to charge the minors with treason. He emphasized that the minors’ detention conditions are inhumane and breach their fundamental rights.
According to the senior lawyer, “For me the highest offences that they could have been charged for are ‘conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace’ ‘unlawful assembly’ ‘willful destruction of public property’ ‘theft’ otherwise known in the South of Nigeria as ‘Stealing’ and other offences of like nature I.e., ‘Affray’, which are not only State Offences but bailable offences.
“Thus, the Attorney General of the Federation has no locus to charge any of the young men we saw in the dock for any offence committed during the #end bad governance riots within the territory of their respective States.”
Daodu called on federal government to discontinue the charges and release all those charged for these State offences, with adequate rehabilitative compensation paid to them.
The controversy surrounding the minors’ arraignment has sparked concerns about Nigeria’s ability to govern itself as an independent nation.
Daodu concluded by calling for a multi-departmental inquiry into the matter and demanding that the Federal Government discontinue the charges and release the minors with adequate compensation.
