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November 1, 2024
While the court granted each of the defendants N10 million bail for the adult protesters, the court demanded the parents of the minors to take their children on bail.
The underaged children the President Bola Tinubu-led administration arrainged in court for protesting against bad governance in Nigeria have been taken to the Kuje Prison following difficulties in meeting their bail conditions.
SaharaReporters reported earlier on Friday that Federal High Court presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, granted bail to 76 protesters who participated in the #EndBadGovernance protest held in August 2024.
While the court granted each of the defendants N10 million bail for the adult protesters, the court demanded the parents of the minors to take their children on bail.
However, one of the Counsels to the protesters, Deji Adeyanju, lamented that stringent bail conditions the court imposed on the protesters who have been in custody since August, have led to the taking them back to prison custody.
He wrote on his X handle, "All the children have been taken to Kuje Prison because it is difficult to meet their bail conditions. I didn’t know when i started crying in court today."
Several groups including the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) had condemned the detention and reported maltreatment of minors involved in the #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria.
The organisations had expressed deep concerns following alarming reports that several detained children, some under the age of 15, collapsed due to malnutrition inside the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The minors have been held since August by the Nigerian police after participating in protests against worsening insecurity and deprivation in the country.
In a statement signed by CISLAC’s Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani on Friday, the organisation called on Senator Oluremi Tinubu to intervene, urging her to see these young detainees as “her own children."
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