A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu has faulted the arraignment of suspects before a federal high court in Abuja describing the the alleged charges of ‘treason’ as obscene.
In a statement issued in Kaduna and signed by the legal luminary, he argued that minors if they are less than 16 years are usually treated as adults when they are found committing crimes.
He argued if they were charged in the areas where they committed the offence he wouldn’t have problems with that have they been charged but said “For me, the highest offences that they could have been charged for are ‘conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace’ ‘unlawful assembly’ ‘willful destruction of public property’ ‘theft’ otherwise known in the South of Nigeria as ‘Stealing’ and other offences of like nature I.e., ‘Affray’, which are not only state offences but bailable offences.
“Thus, the Attorney General of the Federation has no locus to charge any of the young men we saw in the dock for any offence committed during the #end bad governance riots within the territory of their respective states.”
He argued that it is a complete caricature of the federalism that we claim to operate in Nigeria, where state governments abdicate their responsibilities to the Federal Government and turn a blind eye to the pillaging of the rights of their citizens.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there was nothing treasonable in the conduct of these children or young men as discernible from the charge and if our systems were working they could easily have been charged for the offences mentioned above in Juvenile or Magistrate Courts within the territory of the states where it is alleged they committed those riot induced offences.
“One point is clear here, which appears to have been glossed over by a lot of us is that the defendants be they children or adults have already spent over 3 months in very dehumanizing detention conditions.
“This is very inhumane and a breach of their fundamental rights. It is my view that even if they committed the offences they are being accused of, (certainly not treason) the maximum sentences that could have been handed down should have been reasonable fines and in serious cases, imprisonment not exceeding 3 months in the proximate correctional facility or borstal institution,” he said.
Daudu noted that the “Federal Government intervention typified by this unwarranted movement to Abuja was totally unnecessary and a failure of our systems. We rightly ought to feel a collective sense of guilt and shame.
“I call on the Federal Government to discontinue these charges and release all those charged for these State offences, with adequate rehabilitative compensation paid to them.”
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