UPDATED: #EndBadGovernance: Tinubu orders release of all detained minors

The president's reaction follows criticisms of the treatment of the minors after three of them and an adult fainted while being prosecuted in court last week in Abuja.

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the release of all minors detained for their alleged involvement in the #EndBadGovernance protests in August.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the president’s directive follows criticisms of the treatment of the minors after three of them and an adult fainted while being prosecuted in court last week in Abuja.

The presidential directive was disclosed by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Monday while briefing State House correspondents after meeting with the president.

“The president has directed the immediate release of all the minors that have been arrested by the police without prejudice to any legal processes there are,” Mr Idris said.

He said the president also directed that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction should see to the welfare of the minors and ensure their reunion with their families.

He also announced that the government will form a committee to investigate the conduct of all officials involved, and anyone found in breach of the law will face disciplinary action.

It is unclear if such persons to be investigated would include the police officers, prosecutors and the police who kept the minors in custody for several weeks, as well as the judge who approved their detention despite knowing they were minors.

Condemnation

Although the police defended the trial of the minors, many Nigerians and human rights organisations condemned their detention for several weeks and their ongoing trial at a normal court rather than at a juvenile court.

The court granted the 76 accused persons, including about 52 minors, bail last Friday on stringent terms, including providing sureties with N10 million each.

In its reaction, Amnesty International said it condemned in strongest terms how the Nigerian authorities used the stringent bail conditions to justify the arbitrary detention of the minors.

The international rights organisation said that 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.

Also, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), described the Friday’s 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,” the nonprofit demanded.

Initial interventions

Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, directed the Nigerian police to hand over the case file of the 76 defendants.

“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 take an informed decision,” Mr Fagbemi said.

Also, the country’s women’s affairs ministry announced on Saturday that the case of the 52 minors is under review and it is working to transfer it to a juvenile court to ensure speedy delivery of justice, as stipulated by the law.

The ministry also said it is working on providing psychological counselling for the children once they are released as well as accessible educational opportunities.

The president’s directive, however, means that the minors would no longer be tried for their roles in the protests.

The #EndBadGovernance protest

Protesters surged to the streets in major cities around the country between 1 and 10 August to protest economic hardship and bad governance.

The protesters blamed the hardship on Mr Tinubu’s economic policies, including the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira.

The #EndBadGovernance protests sought the reversal of the policies.

The protests turned violent in some states, leading to police arrests of suspects. However, even in places like Abuja, where the protests were peaceful, the police clamped down on protesters using teargas and batons and physically assaulted many of them, including journalists.

The police also arrested many of the protesters and declared a Briton wanted for allegedly sponsoring the protests.

Many Nigerians and rights organisations condemned the police for their actions. The condemnations intensified after the police in August approached the court to obtain orders for the detention of the 76 individuals.

Separately, the police in September arraigned 10 persons over the protests, accusing them of conspiring with the British socialist, Andrew Wynee, to topple the administration of President Bola Tinubu. All the accused denied any wrongdoings.