Kuje prison rejects minors of #EndBadGovernance protest
Some of the #EndBadGovernance minor protesters who were sent to Kuje prison for not meeting the N10 million bail each granted to them by the Federal High Court (FHC) Abuja have been rejected by officials at the facility.
The minors, all under the age of 18, had been granted bail on November 1, which included the stipulation of providing a surety who must be a civil servant.
However, they were taken to Kuje Correctional centre due to their inability to meet the bail condition
Narrating what transpired at the Kuje Correctional Centre, the executive director 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.
READ ALSO: Judge flees as malnourished minors detained over #EndBadGovernance protest collapse in court (Video)
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 Federal High Court, Abuja, had granted bail in the sum of N10 million each to minor protesters of the #EndBadGovernance 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 among 76 persons set to be arraigned by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), collapsed in the court.
One of 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.
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.
Proofreading by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime.
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