29 Nigerian children may be sentenced to death for protesting against cost-of-living crisis
DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN
Fri, November 1, 2024 a
FILE - People run away from tear gas during a protest on the street in Kano, Nigeria, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sani Maikatanga, File)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Twenty-nine children could be facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest against the country’s record cost-of-living crisis. Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a plea.
A total of 76 protesters were charged with 10 felony counts, including treason, destruction of property, public disturbance and mutiny, according to the charge sheet seen by The Associated Press.
According to the charge sheet, the minors ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.
Frustration over the cost-of-living crisis has led to several mass protests in recent months. In August, at least 20 people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested at a protest demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people.
The death sentence was introduced in the 1970s in Nigeria, but there have been no executions in the country since 2016.
Akintayo Balogun, a private lawyer based in Abuja, said the Child Rights Act does not allow any child to be subject to criminal proceedings and sentenced to death.
“So taking minors before a federal high court is wrong, ab initio, except if the government is able to prove that the boys are all above 19 years,” Balogun said.
The court eventually granted 10 million naira ($5,900) bail to each the defendants and imposed stringent conditions they are yet to meet, Marshal Abubakar, counsel to some of the boys, said.
“A country that has a duty to educate its children will decide to punish those children. These children have been in detention for 90 days without food,” Abubakar said.
Yemi Adamolekun, executive director of Enough is Enough, a civil society organization promoting good governance in Nigeria, said authorities have no business prosecuting children.
“The chief justice of Nigeria should be ashamed, she is a woman and a mother,” Adamolekun said.
Despite being one of the top crude oil producers in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Chronic corruption means the lifestyle of its public officials rarely mirrors that of the general population. Medical professionals often strike to protest meager wages.
The country's politicians and lawmakers, often accused of corruption, are some of the best-paid in Africa. Even the president’s wife — her office nowhere in the constitution — is entitled to SUVs and other luxuries funded by taxpayers.
Nigeria’s population of over 210 million people — the continent’s largest — is also among the hungriest in the world and its government has struggled to create jobs. The inflation rate is also at 28-year high and the local naira currency at record lows against the dollar.
On Thursday, Nigeria was classified as a “hotspot of very high concern,” in a report from United Nations’ food agencies, as large numbers of people are facing or are projected to face critical levels of acute food insecurity in the West African country.
Police fire tear gas during a protest against Nigeria's cost-of-living crisis in Abuja on Aug. 1, 2024.
DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN
Fri, November 1, 2024 a
FILE - People run away from tear gas during a protest on the street in Kano, Nigeria, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Sani Maikatanga, File)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Twenty-nine children could be facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest against the country’s record cost-of-living crisis. Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a plea.
A total of 76 protesters were charged with 10 felony counts, including treason, destruction of property, public disturbance and mutiny, according to the charge sheet seen by The Associated Press.
According to the charge sheet, the minors ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.
Frustration over the cost-of-living crisis has led to several mass protests in recent months. In August, at least 20 people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested at a protest demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people.
The death sentence was introduced in the 1970s in Nigeria, but there have been no executions in the country since 2016.
Akintayo Balogun, a private lawyer based in Abuja, said the Child Rights Act does not allow any child to be subject to criminal proceedings and sentenced to death.
“So taking minors before a federal high court is wrong, ab initio, except if the government is able to prove that the boys are all above 19 years,” Balogun said.
The court eventually granted 10 million naira ($5,900) bail to each the defendants and imposed stringent conditions they are yet to meet, Marshal Abubakar, counsel to some of the boys, said.
“A country that has a duty to educate its children will decide to punish those children. These children have been in detention for 90 days without food,” Abubakar said.
Yemi Adamolekun, executive director of Enough is Enough, a civil society organization promoting good governance in Nigeria, said authorities have no business prosecuting children.
“The chief justice of Nigeria should be ashamed, she is a woman and a mother,” Adamolekun said.
Despite being one of the top crude oil producers in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Chronic corruption means the lifestyle of its public officials rarely mirrors that of the general population. Medical professionals often strike to protest meager wages.
The country's politicians and lawmakers, often accused of corruption, are some of the best-paid in Africa. Even the president’s wife — her office nowhere in the constitution — is entitled to SUVs and other luxuries funded by taxpayers.
Nigeria’s population of over 210 million people — the continent’s largest — is also among the hungriest in the world and its government has struggled to create jobs. The inflation rate is also at 28-year high and the local naira currency at record lows against the dollar.
On Thursday, Nigeria was classified as a “hotspot of very high concern,” in a report from United Nations’ food agencies, as large numbers of people are facing or are projected to face critical levels of acute food insecurity in the West African country.
Police fire tear gas during a protest against Nigeria's cost-of-living crisis in Abuja on Aug. 1, 2024.
Camillus Eboh
Fri, November 1, 2024
Protesters shout slogans as they participate in a protest along a road in Lagos,
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria charged 76 people, including 30 minors, with treason and inciting a military coup after they took part in deadly August protests against economic hardship, court documents showed on Friday.
Protesters in August demonstrated in Abuja, the commercial capital Lagos and several other cities to show discontent with economic reforms that have led to rampant inflation and inflicted increasing hardship on ordinary Nigerians. President Bola Tinubu has vowed to pursue the changes which he says are needed to keep the country afloat.
Amnesty International said at least 13 people died during clashes with security forces on the first day of protests.
A rights group said the minors have been held since August by the Nigerian police after participating in protests against worsening insecurity and deprivation in the country.
The charge sheet said the suspects had been investigated between July and August. A police spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on the minors' detention.
The minors were granted bail and the case will come to trial in January, their lawyers said.
Nigerians are grappling with a severe cost-of-living crisis and widespread insecurity which has damaged the farming sector, with armed gangs kidnapping residents and school children for ransom in the north.
(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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