The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has condemned in its entirety the arraignment for treason of children and minors who allegedly participated in the recent nationwide #EndGadGovernance protests. In a statement on Monday, the commission stated that the arrest, detention and arraignment of the minors by the Nigerian Police on charges of treason and attempting to overthrow a legitimate government among other charges, clearly contravenes a plethora of national, regional and international laws.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Tony Ojukwu who stated this in Abuja over the weekend, noted that the action of the Nigeria Police has raised significant concerns among senior lawyers and legal experts, the human rights community, development partners, sister national human rights institutions and well-meaning Nigerians. It also said the act is widely considered an excessive and inappropriate use of state institutions against citizens and it is even worse when the victims are children and minors whose best interests were not considered at all in line with the law.
The NHRC’s Chief Executive Officer stressed the importance of ensuring that legal proceedings align with children’s rights as protected under Nigeria’s Child’s Rights Act 2003, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (ACJA), and some regional and international legal frameworks, including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). “These frameworks emphasised that children should be treated differently and separated from adults within the justice system, focusing on their best interest, protection and rehabilitation rather than harsh punitive measures.
“Unfortunately, the trial court should know better than the police unleashed a draconian bail condition which almost all the children cannot meet, and adjourned the matter to Jan 2025, knowing fully well that these are children who have been detained since August 2024. In fact, the judge witnessed some of the children looking malnourished and unwell which calls to question the mental state of the judge when imposing such bail conditions on the children and minors for participating in a protest now turned into treason. “The NHRC’s criticism mainly centres on the insensitivity of the prosecution and the court for the lack of humanity, accountability and impunity in the application of the law to the children, the severe nature of the charges, the draconian bail conditions and the potential for the psychological harm such impunity in actions might cause minors, bearing in mind that there are procedures for the treatment of the underaged, even when they come in conflict with the law.
“When treated in the way the prosecution and the court have done, our children could grow up with deep grudges against society, and unleash huge contempt on society in future. “We are therefore calling for immediate corrective action to ensure that children are not unfairly subjected to extreme inhumanity and slammed with charges like treason, which carry heavy penalties generally reserved for adult offenders accused of severe crimes against the state”, the learned Silk advised.
