The Nigeria Police Force has said it didn’t violate any law by charging some #Endgovernance protesters to court, which included malnourished children.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the protesters, some of whom were between the ages of 13 and 15, were charged with 10 counts of terrorism, an attempt to overthrow the government, and alleged treason at the Federal High Court Abuja.
Their arraignment sparked national and global outrage from civil society organisations and opposition leaders.
Some of the children who appeared in court on Friday were visibly malnourished, unhealthy, and fainted at the court premises.
But speaking during an interview with Channels TV on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said Nigerian laws allow children from 13 years of age to be tried in court.
“Those that are not criminally liable are those below the age of 7. Once you are more than 7 years old, you can be charged to court. The only thing is that you need to follow certain procedures. None of them is less than 7, I think the youngest should be 13.
“The fact that you are 13 years old does not mean you cannot be charged to court; even the Child and Young Persons Act says a 13-year-old can be charged to court,” he argued.
“So we have charged them to court for this on behalf of the federal government, because these are those who are leveraged on the #Endbadgovernance protest, they hijacked the protest, and they are so violent, they were the people that were flying Russian flags which of course is a punishable offence, they are criminally liable, we have not charged any underage in our own context here to court.”
While dismissing backlash from the public, Mr Adejobi said the police handled the prosecution with the professionalism and sensitivity it deserved.
