We are relieved that the case against the 119 protesters, including many children, who were dragged in front of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, 1st November, has been dismissed. But many more protesters remain in detention, many illegally.
There are the “Abuja 11” whose case was to have been held in the Federal High Court on Friday 8th November, but has now been postponed, at least they are out on bail. There are hundreds more protesters detained from Sokoto to Maiduguri and elsewhere. 11 protesters were in court on 4th November, in Borno State. Also there are many more detained by the police Intelligence Response Unit (IRT) in Abuja, some for as long as nine years, and at least a dozen #EndSARS protesters are still being held in prison in Lagos, still awaiting trial after four years.
We were all horrified by the pitiful pictures of the emaciated children in the Federal High Court on Friday, 1st November. Their obvious malnutrition graphically explained why they had joined the #EndHunger and #EndBadGovernance protests in early August. Their clear hunger also demonstrated the inhumane manner of their detention over the last three months. Five of them were so weak that they fainted from their ordeal at the Court.
Any child is to be “subjected only to the child justice system and processes” under the Child Rights Act, 2003 (s. 204). So all the children in this case were illegally charged and detained. They should all receive scholarships up to university level as partial compensation. The police should be investigated for their illegal behavior over the detention and charging of these children. All the detainees held by the police or in prisons in other states should immediately have their cases dismissed.
Nigeria’s Child’s Rights Act prohibits the prosecution of children between 8 and 17 in a regular court and their detention in custody meant for adults. Under the law, children can only be subjected to the criminal justice system meant for them. The Child’s Rights Act also gives the family or juvenile court the exclusive powers to order the remand of a child and decide the place of custody, should the need arise as stipulated under the law.
The 119 protesters, including many children, were detained for three months before their case was dismissed. They were arrested in early August. They were then held unconstitutionally until the police gained a court order to hold them for another 60 days on 22nd August. This time limit was exceeded before they were taken back to court on 1st November.
The Child Rights Act, also states that children are not to be charged with serious offences, should be dealt with in specialised family courts and cannot be detained in adult correctional centres. In addition, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, section 296 states that no-one should be held on remand for more than an initial 14 days. All these provisions were broken in the case of the 119 protesters.
The “Abuja 11” were to have been back in the Federal High Court on Friday, 8th November, this hearing has been postponed as the judge is now on leave. They were all held unconstitutionally by the IRT in Abuja as the following table shows. The Federal Constitution is clear that no-one should be held for more than two days before being taken to court:
Conditions at the IRT, Abuja unit are horrific. Detainees were held without contact with their families and in solitary confinement. They are tortured for days at a time and then dumped in a dark cell until their case was called to court.
One of the detainees said: “The IRT detention facility (dark cell) is a place I will never wish even my greatest enemy to be. It is not different from a NAZI concentration camp. I was detained in one of their cells. It is the worst experience of my life. Up till now I am still nursing both the physical and mental wounds, I was afflicted with during our detention at the facility.”
“Inside the cell, which is only concrete, dozens of young men sat in rows, some with unshaved beards and dusty heads laying out like an orchard plantation in the harmattan. It is really difficult to imagine how they sleep at night in such a compressed setting. There were over forty men in my cell. There were three other cells each containing a similar number of people. A few detainees had been held there for up to nine years. There was another cell holding several women.”
All the detainees have their phones confiscated from the them on arrest. In several cases their homes were ransacked and many personal possessions taken by the police. This included children’s toys, clothes, televisions and academic certificates. When the bookshop at the NLC Office was attacked all the books and the photocopier were taken by the police. These are still being held by the police IRT.
We demand that all charges against the other protesters are dismissed. All the detainees, wherever they are being held, should be freed immediately. They are political prisoners. We should all have the human right to peacefully protest against hunger under any banner or flag we choose.
Protesters were shot dead for waving Nigerian flags during the #EndSARS protests at Lekki Toll Gates four years ago. Tens were shot dead on the August protests and hundreds were arrested for flying Russian flags in Kano and other places in early August. All the charges should be dropped and all the protesters freed. The real criminals are the looters of the ruling class. The real crime is the hunger across the land – graphically depicted by the horrendous pictures of the boys in court on Friday.
Dismiss all the charges! Free all the detainees! End hunger now!
