Abuse of child rights levelled at the federal government over the way it is prosecuting minors charged with treason in respect of the Endbadgovernance protest has drawn response from the government’s counsel.
Hundreds of suspected protesters in the August protest that turned violence with some involved calling for military return and waving Russian flags were taken before a Federal High Court in Abuja in arraignment.
The viral video of the occasion in which malnourished minors were among them, with two slumping out of hunger in detention for multiple months sparked public outrage.
The outrage was hinged on allegations that government violated child rights which protect minors from being prosecuted in the regular court but juvenile court.
Rising to government’s defence, its defence lawyer, Rimazonte Ezekiel said:“These boys that we brought to the court today are adults. Most of them are married men. None of them is a minor. Some of them are University graduates. The small kids you are seeing here today came with their parents to come and greet their loved ones.
“They are not even the real suspects standing trial in this case. These boys were arrested in Kaduna and Zaria. Do you know how much it cost us to be at this level of democracy in this country? These you boys are trying to destabilise Nigeria using the Russian flags and other countries while calling on the military to remove our president.
“Is it fair? To even remove the state governors. If they don’t want democracy again, are we forcing them? Everybody is enjoying their fundamental human rights. Nobody is abusing their rights. Everything is moving on well in the country only for these boys for no reason started protests with Russia and other countries’ flags.”
