International human rights organization, Amnesty International (AI) and a former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, have both condemned the trial of minors by the federal government.
The minors, between the ages of
12 to 15 years, were on Friday, arraigned by the Nigeria Police for alleged
treason. The minors were said to have been arrested by Nigeria Police during
the August hunger protest.
In a statement on Friday,
Amnesty International accused President Bola Tinubu-led government of putting
the minors through horrifying experiences for participating in peaceful protest.
“The Nigerian authorities
detained these minors unlawfully — putting them through horrifying experiences
— for exercising their right to peaceful protest. Government must release them
all — immediately and unconditionally,” AI wrote on its X handle.
On her part, the human rights
activist, Ezekwesili, accused the government of destroying the country’s
democracy.
“Our Democracy has degraded to
this barbaric depth? The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that
means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions
independent of the political winds that are blowing.
“How did the Nigerian
Constitution become so useless that the Nigerian Judiciary could allow such
violations of the rights of these minors to happen at such egregious levels?”
She asked.
The former Minister of
Education called on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to intervene and save the children.
“The NBA, where are you? What
exactly is this, our dear Chief Justice of Nigeria? Can we the Citizens of
Nigeria count on you for a clean sweep of this version of our Judiciary?
“These children must be swiftly
released to their parents and guardians, and adequately compensated for the
damages done them by the Nigerian State,” Ezekwesili stated on her X handle.
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