In this report, Vanguard Law & Human Rights captures the perspectives of senior lawyers, academics, and rights activists on the decision by President Bola Tinubu's government not only to slam Nigerians who protested against his government in August this year with treason charges but also to detain underage protesters for 90 days in the prison with hardened criminals before finally arraigning them before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Major stakeholders including a one-time Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN; a respected member of the inner Bar, Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN; Prof. Emmanuel Aiyede and a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, are among the many stakeholders that have carpeted President Bola Tinubu's administration for charging Nigerians who protested against his policies with treason.
They are of the consensus that the serious charge preferred against the protesters amounted to killing a fly with a sledgehammer. The senior citizens who wondered how carrying out one's fundamental human rights of expression could be regarded as treason in the 21st Century, also rapped Tinubu's administration for detaining underage protesters in prison with hardened criminals for over three months before bringing them to court.
They opinned that it is unthinkable that a judge who passed through the Nigerian Law School would agree to prosecute underage protesters in his court without querying the prosecutor for the misdeed.
Although upon the directive of President Tinubu, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, took over the case and dropped the charge against the accused persons, the senior lawyers are pushing for the sanction for not only the judge that purportedly allowed himself to be used to prosecute the underage protesters. They also wanted both the Inspector-General of Police and the Chief law officer of the federation to be queried as well.The stakeholders who took their time to trace the journey of the protesters to prison said it was amazing that President Tinubu who himself led protests in the past with the reputation of funding mass demonstrations against bad governance would turn around to orchestrate the arrest and detention of innocent Nigerians under the pretext of attempting to overthrow his government when indeed his objective was to gag Nigerians from expressing themselves.
How it started
Following the rising cost of living, insecurity and hunger in the country, fuelled by the implementation of a set of economic reforms by President Tinubu's administration from May 29, 2023, Nigerian youths across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, mobilized themselves to organize a 10-day mass demonstration nationwide.
The goal of the protest was to compel the Federal Government to reverse some of its anti-people policies on fuel subsidy removal, hike in electricity tariffs, custom duties, among others.
Although there were demonstrations on July 29, 2024 in the North Central region of Nigeria with some protesters blocking the Abuja-Kaduna highway and a march in Niger State, the main protest however started on August 1, 2024.
From the first day of the protest, men of the Nigerian Army and the Police killed some protesters in their bid to disperse them across the country, and injured many others while several protestors including minors were arrested all through the duration of the demonstration.In the Northern part of the country, some protesters including minors who waved Russian flags during the protest were also arrested. Although the protest lasted 10 days, the first three days were more effective than the other days.More than three months after the agents of the state arrested the protesters, unsettling video clips and pictures appeared online on November 1, 2024, showing scores of minors with few other detained protesters inside a court room in Abuja.Four of the underage protesters collapsed in court from apparent malnutrition and inhuman conditions they were subjected to while they were awaiting trial on charges as extreme as treason.The incident in the court generated reactions from various quarters within and outside the country.
It is ironical to charge protesters with treason--Prof. Odinkalu
Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission,NHRC, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, opinned that it is a thing of irony that the person who claims to have built the home of protests in Nigeria is the same person who is now making protest treasonable.
He said: "Tinubu says he built Lagos. So, I presume he knows the history of the place. Workers in pre-colonial Lagos picketed in 1895. No one charged them with trying to overthrow Queen Victoria. The Lagos Water Riots so-called took place in 1907. No one killed the Eleko or charged him and the people with treason. It is a thing of irony that the person who claims to have built the home of protests in Nigeria is the person who is now making protest a thing of treason under a supposedly elective system of government. When did the exercise of the right to protest become treasonous?
"Now all the hyper-ventilation about the "release" of these kids should be seen in that light. The government created the chilling regime that enabled the Police first to round up so many children, detain them for 93 days, arraign them for treason and made it such that a judge was afraid to do the right thing. This is more than merely about a treason charge."
Charging protesters with treason amounts to killing a fly with a sledgehammer--Prof Kalu, SAN
A former Abia State Attorney-General, Prof Awa Kalu, SAN who agreed with Odinkalu stated that charging the protesters, particularly the underage with treason amounted to killing a fly with a sledge hammer.
He said: "Government is a tactical business. You must know how to accommodate your friends and how to fight your enemies. So, if a child of 12 or 13 years flies a Russian flag, you charge him with treason, that is mind blowing, as far as I'm concerned.
"Treason is a highly consequential offence. It is not a small offence. It is among the first-degree offences. So, we are grateful to the AGF for realizing that we don't kill a fly with a sledgehammer.
"Let me say that we can't drop all our dustbins in front of Tinubu's house. Blame should be sectoral. It is the Inspector-General of Police who arraigned all those people. The IGP mans an institution that takes care of law and order. When you are in charge of law and order, you are deemed to know your limits.
"As far as I'm concerned, it is unlawful to arrest somebody who is protesting and the protest was not recorded as violent. So, let us blame the Inspector-General of Police for that misdeed. Everything should not end up with Tinubu. When he is sleeping, they blame him, when he is awake, they blame him."
NJC should not spare the trial judge --Ahamba, SAN
Also commenting on the issue, Chief Ahamba said: "For detaining underage protesters for three months in prison, I have nothing against the President on that issue. I have nothing against the judge who made the detention order.
"But I will be disturbed if the National Judicial Council, NJC, does not invite the judge for questioning because it is elementary that every lawyer knows that you don't put underage people in custody with criminal adults. They are always put in the custody of either a parent or an uncle or somebody. You don't send them to prison.
"That is what I believe every lawyer knows including anyone who purports to be a judge. That is where I am concerned that a judge will allow that thing to happen under his or her charge.
"I mean whatever they did in government interest shouldn't influence a judge. He should do what is right. Why keep underage in prison for months? Why? I'm very bitter.
"It is for the legal profession to checkmate others. If the legal profession now subjects itself to the vicissitude of the political class, then, we are in trouble in this country.
"The AGF and the judge who made the order should be called to question by the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Judicial Council as the case may be. That is my position on that point."
Tinubu, a Chichidodo, not a democrat--Prof Aiyede
For the Professor of Political Institution, Governance and Public Policy, Emmanuel Remi Aiyede, President Tinubu is a Chicidodo who gives the impression that he is a democrat when indeed he is a pretender. He said: "I think the point that should be made is the question of his commitment to democratic expression of rights or democratic participation whether in his favour or against him.
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"It is clear that regardless of who is at the receiving end, the standard practice is that citizens have the right to air their grievances peacefully through public demonstration, strike, marches, placards, and statements in the media including social media.
"But you know, not all those who claimed to be democrats can live up to their claim when they are put to test.
"And what we have found out is that President Tinubu is one of those who are unable to accommodate protesters without reacting violently as manifested in the way the police under his administration behaved and also the way those young people were arrested and paraded in court and jailed for over 90 days in very difficult circumstance," he said.
Aiyede however expressed surprise that President Tinubu could put himself up as a tyrant now that he found himself in government.
According to him, leveling protesters with all manners of trumped-up charges is not new in the country, particularly under the military but Tinubu who is reputed for funding and participating in public protest against the government during and after military era could tolerate harassment of citizens protesting all forms of hardship under his government.
"He was very visible during the Occupy Nigeria protest of 2012. For somebody like that to be using state apparatus against ordinary street children is really traumatizing, unbecoming, unexpected and unacceptable," he added. political class, then, we are in trouble in this country.
"So, the Attorney General of the Federation and the judge who made the order should be called to question by the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Judicial Council as the case may be. That is my position on that point," he added.
