Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has filed an application at the Federal High Court in Abuja, urging it to dismiss charges against several underage children accused of treason.
The underage children were arrested and detained for three months for allegedly participating in the August #EndBadGovernance” protest.
Chief Falana, representing the defendants in a statement, insisted that the President Bola Tinubu-led government has a constitutional obligation to fund their education as part of its duty to children.
The defendants filed a notice of preliminary objection, calling on the judge to “decline jurisdiction in the case and for an order mandating the complainant to pay their school fees till at least senior secondary school or university level.”
This request, Falana said, is in line with “Section 18 (3) (a) (b) (c) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 15 of the Child’s Rights Act, Section 2 of the Universal Basic Education Act, and Article 17 of the African Charter.”
The senior lawyer argued that the Federal High Court “lacks the jurisdiction to try them by virtue of Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution,” stressing that, under “Section 204 of the Child’s Rights Act, they can only be subjected to the child justice system.”
He said these underage defendants “cannot be tried with adults in a formal adult court.”
The rights activist said the application, based on both national and international legal provisions, reinforces the defendants’ rights to protection under juvenile justice laws, while also stressing the government’s duty to fulfil its educational commitments to Nigeria’s youth.
The statement reads: “The defendants in the ongoing trial instituted by the Federal government against some children for allegedly taking part in the August protest tagged Endbadgovernance has filed a notice of preliminary objection, asking the learned trial judge to decline jurisdiction in the case and for an order mandating the complainant to pay their school fees till atleast senior secondary school or university level in compliance with Section 18 (3) (a) (b)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, section 15 of the Child’s Rights Act, Section 2 of the Universal Basic Education Act, Article 17 of the African Charter.”
This newspaper reports that the police had arraigned 76 malnourished underage children on Friday before Federal High Court presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, with six of them slumping during to apparent hunger and starvation.
The judge granted them N10 million bail each and two sureties that include a federal civil servant at Level 15.
The dehumanizing condition of the children and their apparent starvation drew national outrage, with the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi announcing that he had asked the police to handover the case file to his office.
