A shocked world watched as the Nigerian government exhibited in court at least 28 malnourished and unkempt children it has kept in prison and detention centres for three months for allegedly engaging in public protests.

The children are charged in blatant violation of Section 204 of the Child Rights Act of 2003 which states that children under 18 should not be tried in the criminal justice system, but rather in the child justice system. 

Their arraignment also violates this Act which expressly states that children under 18 cannot be sentenced to capital punishment, imprisonment or corporal punishment.

But the Nigeria Police has turned itself into a court and over-ruled this Act. The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in defending the arraignment of minors said: “Under Nigerian law, individuals who have reached the age of criminal responsibility are answerable for their actions, regardless of their age. This principle aligns with global practices where accountability is upheld for young individuals who commit serious offences. As seen in other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, age does not exempt individuals from facing legal consequences.”

The Nigeria Police reference to the United Kingdom, UK, shows the failure of our education system. Since when has the UK become our standard of civilization? It is a country built on a mentality of dominance, exploitation and subjugation of other peoples. 

In one of the greatest struggles of humanity, the UK and its American clone supported, financed, armed and shielded the Apartheid regime in South Africa. They also designated the liberation movements and liberation fighters like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ruth First and Joe Slovo as terrorists. We Nigerians stood in sharp contrast to all these and fought, along with other peoples, until Apartheid was decisively crushed. So if such countries send children to prison or the gas chamber, how can that be the standard we should adopt in handling the Nigerian child?

The children were part of the 76 brought to court on charges of treason, terrorism, and arson which carry the death penalty.

 All accused were malnourished. When four of the accused slumped, the unfeeling police claimed they were merely staging a Nollywood drama. ACP Adejobi said this was “deliberate and scripted” to draw negative attention. So, did they also stage-manage their malnourished and starving bodies? 

A police force that should apologise for reducing Nigerian children and suspects to near skeletons talks about drama. Does that not speak volumes of the malnourished thought process in the force? A police force that could not see what the rest of the world was seeing.

When the police lawyer told the world that the cry against arraigning minors should not arise as anybody above seven years is ripe to be charged, he gave the false impression that Nigerians have no human feelings.

First, our laws presume an accused innocent until found guilty. So why are the accused treated like convicts? Why is the police subjecting them to such inhuman treatment that can lead to some of them losing their lives even before taking a plea? Are we sure some have not already ‘travelled’ before the rest were brought to court on Friday November 1, 2024? 

Justice Obiora Egwuatu granted bail of N10 million bond and one surety to each of the “adults”. He ruled that the surety to be presented by each of them must be at least a Level 15 civil servant with verifiable address in Abuja. For the underage defendants, he ordered that they only require their “parents or guardians” to stand as their sureties. 

Quite thoughtful of the judge. But given the sorry state of the 76 persons before him, what I expected him to do was first to call in doctors to examine the accused and ensure they are fed as starvation is not part of our legal process.

Secondly, as a justice of the court, did he think the faces before him could meet such stringent conditions? Besides, the children and adults have already spent three months in prison custody on the orders of Justice Egwuatu. Did the judge reflect that he was sending minors to prison custody rather than a remand home? Does he think the ends of justice would be served by such bail conditions?  

Lord Denning said: “When a judge sits to try the case, he himself is on trial before his fellow countrymen. It is on his behaviour that they will form their opinion of our system of justice.”

Mercifully, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has stepped in and directed that the police hands over the case file. But is he just learning about the case? Was his office unaware that children have been held in prison and police detention for three months? Is he aware that the government he serves as Minister of Justice is asking for the death penalty for children and youths it claims committed treason during constitutionally-sanctioned protests?

I have read arguments that the children committed treason by carrying Russian flags. Is that why they should be killed? Are foreign flags, particularly American and British flags, not flown in our hotels and taxis?

There is also the demand for the lives of the children on the basis that they called for military rule. My position is that if a 14-year-old makes such a call, what we need do is explain to him why such a call is wrong, not to demand for his life.  Please, nobody should sermonise to me why military rule is dangerous; I lived through it. I was a human rights and pro-democracy activist when the military held sway in the country, killing the innocent, making orphans of children, destroying the economy, privatising our national wealth and reversing our gains as a people. I was threatened a number of times by the Directorate of Military Intelligence, detained by the State Security Services, SSS, lost friends like Bagauda Kaltho, whose corpse has not been released 28 years after he was murdered. I know the bestiality that is military misrule for which human life meant nothing. 

These children don’t know what military rule is, so we need to educate them. 

We need to teach them that the military, in one day, shot dead 118 Nigerians on the streets of Lagos just to stop a pro-democracy protest on July 6, 1993. We need to teach them how the military set up death squads killing innocent people like Mrs Kudirat Abiola and shooting defenceless people like Mr. Alex Ibru and Senator Abraham Adesanya. These are lessons we can teach the children here on earth and not after they are despatched to Heaven as their arraignment suggests. 

The simple demand to  government is: set the captives free!