Detained children are casualities not criminals

In an unprecedented and shockingly atrocious development, security agencies have detained children since August. The visibly unwell and malnourished “suspects” were charged with treasonable felony and deprived of access to either legal services or their families. Well-known human rights activist Senator Shehu Sani expressed deep disappointment, urged the government to drop the charges, and immediately […]

In an unprecedented and shockingly atrocious development, security agencies have detained children since August. The visibly unwell and malnourished “suspects” were charged with treasonable felony and deprived of access to either legal services or their families. Well-known human rights activist Senator Shehu Sani expressed deep disappointment, urged the government to drop the charges, and immediately return the children to their homes.

Nutrition experts have cried out that poor treatment of the children will result in long-term health problems including stunted growth, weakened immunity, and delayed cognitive milestones. Even as the world expresses shock and outrage, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) condemned the outpourings of sympathy. Nobody except members of our poorly trained security agencies seriously believes that these children could ever overthrow a local government chairman let alone the president of Nigeria!

Even as the arraignment and prosecution of children for expressing their views reflects poorly on the nation, quite lamentably, Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court Abuja, further shocked the world by imposing stringent bail conditions of N10 million each, and adjourned the case until January 2025.

This implies that he is not adverse to children spending Christmas and the New Year in detention despite not being found guilty of any offence! Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has quite correctly expressed humane outrage over the starvation of the “suspects. He also lambasted the bail conditions asking pointedly “how can someone who struggles to afford three meals a day be expected to pay N10 million in bail?”

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Indeed N10 million equates to 10 years’ salary of a minimum wage earner! In a scathing criticism of the manner in which the children have been mistreated while in custody the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf, bewailed the fact that even kidnappers, bandits and other criminal groups show more humanity in treatment of young captives than security forces. Truthfully the injustice against the children is a betrayal of our humanity, as they suffer in detention simply because they were hungry and exercised their constitutional right to protest.

The sad truth is that Nigerian security agents routinely trample on the rights and dignity of detained suspects who have not been found guilty of any offence by a court of law. These days Nigerians are routinely detained under inhuman circumstances only to be released months later without charge. Those who successfully challenge their detention and are awarded compensation by the courts have little or no likelihood of ever being paid the judgment debt.

A former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human trafficking, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo SAN, has quite rightly condemned the decision to file charges against the children, correctly describing it as an “ugly phenomenon” which represents a clear violation of state, national, regional and international legal frameworks. The Campaign for Equal Rights and Opportunities for all Nigerians (CERON) has called for sanction of those responsible for this embarrassing and condemnable prosecution which has sparked outrage both within and outside the country, and brought the nation into disrepute especially since the children were kept in detention well beyond the constitutionally stipulated time for court appearance.

One can only imagine the pains the children have been put through as another #EndBadGovernance protestor Engineer Khalid Aminu and multiple detained “suspects” alleged on television that they were tortured during detention. The children were allegedly detained by the Department of State Services (DSS), not the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

It boggles the mind as to why there are so many varieties of detention centres in the nation. In addition to the NCoS where at least access to legal aid and a minimal level of decent treatment are guaranteed the Department of State Services (DSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Police Force (NPF), National intelligence Agency (NIA), as well as Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) are all alleged to operate detention centres!

It is both immoral and unethical to detain and prosecute children with the serious crime of treasonable felony since they were unarmed and indeed too young to truly understand what it means. It is wrong to view them as enemies of the State rather the children who need protection. It evidences government’s lack of moral compass, and disregard for the psychological and emotional ill-effects it will have on the children. How anyone thinks such treatment is likely to produce future generations of patriotic citizens is unfathomable.

Nigerians at home and abroad believed that our reputation as an uncaring nation with no social safety net and no sympathy for the poor could get no worse, however the damage and stain inflicted upon the nation’s reputation by the shameful court display is unquantifiable.  There has been understandable worldwide outrage, and government has rightly been subjected to justifiable criticism.

Authorities must treat the children well, respect the rights, consider their age and aim to facilitate their integration into society to assume constructive roles in nation-building.  Paradoxically if they had taken up arms and killed citizens like Boko Haram do routinely they would be “rehabilitated”

All under 15 years of age, they are not criminals but rather casualties of a flawed system and corrupt form of governance which has lost direction, has no respect for their dignity, does not value their worth, and robs them of hope for the future.