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2 weeks ago
16 ARTICLE AD
SOME minors among the #EndBadGovernance protesters who were sent to Kuje prison for not meeting the N10 million bail each granted them by the Federal High Court (FHC) Abuja have been rejected by officials at the facility……KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE👈
According to reports, the minors who were granted bail on Friday, November 1, are under the age of 18 years, and in addition to the bail money, they were expected to provide one surety, who needs to be a civil servant.
But when they could not meet their bail condition, they were taken to the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Narrating what transpired at the Kuje Correctional Centre, the executive director (ED) of Hope Behind Bars, Funke Adeoye, stated that on getting to Kuje, 27 minors were rejected and were subsequently taken to the office of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Abuja.
According to her, the prosecution team was trying to use a single remand warrant for all 27 minors, and the officers at Kuje rejected this and insisted that individual warrants are required for each minor.
She added that the correctional officers also expressed concern about the potential risk of holding the minors at Kuje, citing the possibility of sexual assault by other inmates.
Other sources also raised issues on the whereabouts of the remaining minors. According to a reliable source, 38 minors were taken to Kuje, but only 27 were counted at the facility and sent to IRT, which raised the question of where the others were.
The ICIR reported earlier that the FHC, Abuja, has granted bail in the sum of N10 million each to minor #EndBadGovernance protesters who were arraigned for participating in the August 2024 protest on Friday.
They are being slammed with a 10-count charge bordering on alleged treason, as well as conspiracy to commit a felony with intent to destabilise Nigeria, an offence contrary to Section 96 and punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Act.
They were arrested and detained in August during the nationwide protest in the country, which was sparked by widespread economic hardship.
They were arrested in Abuja, Kaduna, Gombe, Jos, Katsina and Kano.
However, confusion ensued in the court earlier when some minors, who were among 76 persons set to be arraigned by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), collapsed in the court.
One of the defendants, a minor who is under 18 years old, slumped while the judge, Egwuatu, was reading the charges.
The judge had to quickly stop the proceedings and go back to his chambers because of the event.
The boy was taken to the court’s clinic with the assistance of lawyers present in the courtroom.
According to the charge, which was signed by a group of police lawyers headed by Simon Lough, the defendants and other people who are still at large allegedly conspired to commit a felony in Abuja and Kano between July 31 and August 4 while acting in concert and to destabilise Nigeria.
In August, many Nigerians trooped to the streets between August 1 and 10, 2024, to protest poor governance and economic hardships, which were said to have been caused or increased by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reforms.
The protests were marred with violence, largely caused by the security operatives in places like Lagos and Abuja, where protesters were subjected to tear gas and harassment.
The tweets on the protest carry different hashtags, ranging from #RevolutionNow, #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, #TakeItBack, #DaysofRage, and #TinubuMustGo.
