Vice President Kashim Shettima said President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of over 100 #EndBadGovernannce protesters, including dozens of minors, “on humanitarian grounds, despite incontrovertible digital video and photographic evidence of the perpetration and actions some of which were uploaded by the actors themselves.”
Mr Shettima stated this on Tuesday afternoon when he received the 114 persons arrested in connection with the August’s #EndBadGovernance protest, who were discharged by the court on Tuesday morning.
He said the president decided to give “these young men another chance at becoming responsible citizens who will make a positive impact, in a drive for a better Nigeria.”
The vice president’s comments suggest that the government believes that the protesters, including the minors, were not wrongly treated and that the president only released them out of pity.
However, many Nigerians, including local and international rights organisations, have condemned the treatment of the protesters, particularly the minors, three of whom fainted in court last Friday.
The criticisms are believed to have forced the president to order the release of the protesters, leading to the withdrawal of the charges against them by the attorney general of the federation on Tuesday.
The police had sought to prosecute the minors in regular courts instead of juvenile courts provided for by the Child Rights Act.
The defendants, including minors, have also been kept in detention for more than three months in adult detention facilities against legal provision that mandates separate custody homes for children.
In protest, many Nigerians on social media, particularly X, to express their displeasure with the government and the stringent bail conditions earlier imposed by the trial judge.
Human rights advocates and civil society organisations also threatened to commence a legal battle against President Tinubu-led government if it failed to halt the trial of the minors.
The #EndBadGovernance protest
Protesters surged to the streets in major cities around the country between 1 and 10 August to protest against the economic hardship and bad governance in the country.
The protesters blamed the hardship on Mr Tinubu’s economic policies underpinned by the removal of subsidies on petrol and floating of the naira.
The #EndBadGovernance protests sought the reversal of the policies.
The police have remained impervious to criticism and counsel since they commenced a widespread clampdown on both actual and perceived protesters in August.
The widespread condemnation intensified after they approached the court to obtain court orders for the detention of 76 individuals including minors in August.
In September, the police went on to arraign 10 persons over the protest, accusing them of conspiring with a British socialist Andrew Wynee to topple the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
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