THE Federal High Court (FHC) sitting in 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.
The court on Friday, November 1, granted those under the age of 15 bail, they are however required to provide one surety, who needs to be a civil servant.
In the meantime, 87 other adults are presently being charged with the same offences.
They are being slammed with a 10-count charge bordering on alleged treason, as well as conspiracy to commit a felony with intent to destabilize 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.
Minor faints in court
However, confusion ensued in the court earlier when a minor, who is among 76 persons set to be arraigned by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), collapsed in the court.
The defendant, a minor who is barely 15 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.
A few others, also slumped.
A lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, had earlier revealed that the minors had spent over 80 days in police detention.
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.
#EndBadGovernance protest: 723 arrested in Abuja, 830 charged in Kano – Hope Behind Bars
The ICIR reported on October 4 that two months after the #EndBadGovernance Protest that rocked Nigeria in August 2024, about 723 protesters were arrested in Abuja, and those charged to court in Kano are still struggling to meet their bail conditions.
The ICIR gathered from Hope Behind Bars (HBB) Africa, a non-governmental organisation that about 723 protesters arrested in Abuja and 830 charged to court in Kano form the larger bulk of protesters who are still detained.
As of October 1, most of the detained protesters from the #EndBadGovernance protest in Nigeria—some of them charged with treason, which carries a possible death penalty—are either awaiting prosecution or struggling to meet up with their bail conditions.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) puts the number of those arrested across the country in relation to the protest at 1,200, while some media reports put the number at over 2400.
The genesis of the #EndBadGovernance Protest
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.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance