Femi Falana, human Rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Monday called on President Bola Tinubu-led government to drop all charges against the 101 #EndBadGovernance protesters.
Falana’s call followed President Tinubu’s instruction to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to release minors arrested and are facing prosecution over their alleged involvement in the #EndBadGovernance protest.
Reacting to the President’s instruction, Falana said that dropping the case against the minors was not enough, demanding that the charge against the remaining 101 protesters should also be dropped.
The statement partly read, “In view of the directive of President Bola Tinubu that the treason charge against the malnourished children be withdrawn, it is hoped that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN will formally discontinue the frivolous charge by filing a nolle prosequi application at the Federal High Court.
“The Attorney-general of the Federation should also discontinue the charge pending against the remaining 101 protesters as there is no scintilla of evidence to support the charge of treason arising from the #endbadgovernance protests that took place in several states last August.
“However, in a desperate bid to prove the grave charge of treason against the 130 defendants, including 29 minors and thereby expose the Federal Government of Nigeria to unprecedented ridicule, the Police Prosecutor had set out to tender 76 Russian flags, two fire extinguishers, two prepaid meters, letters of arrest and statements of the suspects at the trial court.”
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Police had last Friday arraigned 72 minors at a Federal High Court in Abuja over their participation in the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, attracting outrage against the government.
