VIDEO: #EndBadGovernance: Nigerian Governor Attack Tinubu For Releasing Protesting Minors, Says I’m Not Happy
Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has expressed displeasure over the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government’s decision to release some minors arrested during the August #EndBadGovernance protests.
The governor argued that the minors should have been sent to remand homes as a “corrective measure” to deter others from engaging in similar “acts of dissent.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Governor Zulum criticised the federal authorities for what he described as a missed opportunity to instil discipline in the younger generation.
According to him, “I was not happy with how the Federal Government released the minors who were arrested during the August #EndBadGovernance protest. Though I’m happy about their release, the Federal Government should not have charged them with treason.”
“However, instead of completely freeing them, they should have been taken to a remand home or rehabilitation center. This would have served as a deterrent, preventing them from engaging in protests in the future,” Zulum added.
Earlier in November, Ibom Focus reported that President Bola Tinubu ordered the release of the underage children arraigned before the Federal High Court, following national and global outrage and condemnation which came to his government.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, had announced the release at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Ibom Focus had reported that the majority of the underage children arraigned before an Abuja Federal High Court on Friday, November 1, were ill after the Nigerian Correctional Service officials rejected them at Kuje Prison.
Ibom Focus had learnt that following their rejection at Kuje Prison, the malnourished minors were detained by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in a facility meant for adults at the Intelligence Response Team unit in the Apo area of the Federal Capital Territory.
The kids who were granted bail on stringent terms by Justice Obiora Egwuatu were 24 in number but about 20 of them had been hospitalised at an undisclosed hospital, according to sources.
Meanwhile pictures and videos of the incident later had showed some of the teenagers, who had been locked up since August, writhing on the floor of the courtroom, with some of other detainees trying to help them.
In one of the pictures, a lawyer was seen trying to resuscitate one of the protesters who collapsed while standing in the dock.
The detention of the teenagers had been ordered by Justice Emeka Nwite, who granted an ex-parte application by the police to keep them in custody for 60 days to conclude their ‘investigation’ against the protesters, who had been accused of attempting to overthrow President Tinubu.
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