The Nigerian government has pulled back the treason charge filed against minors who participated in the recent #EndBadGovernance protest.
This followed a directive from President Bola Tinubu that the children should be released after outrage greeted their arraignment at the Federal High Court in Abuja last Friday.
The minors have been in detention for over 90 days.
The Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, officially took over the case file on Tuesday and notified the Federal High Court in Abuja of his decision to discontinue the case against the protesters.
The application for discontinuance, which was moved by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Abubakar, was anchored on provisions of sections 174(1), (b) and (c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015.
The DPPF also applied for the proceeding to be conducted without the presence of the minors in the courtroom, in line with provisions of Section 266(b) of the ACJA, 2015, and Section 1 of the Childs’ Rights Act.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Fanala, as well as other defence lawyers in the matter, said they were not opposed to the applications.
Consequently, trial Justice Obiora Egwuatu struck out the charge.
