The Government Cannot Arrest Ex-Governor Yahaya Bello In Six Months But Can Detain Children For 93 Days – Deji Adeyanju Fumes

Deji Adeyanju, one of the lawyers to the detained children over #EndBadGovernance protests, has condemned the actions of the Nigerian government.

He wondered how easy it was for the President Bola Tinubu-led government to detain children for 93 days but could not arrest former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.

“The government can arrest 10-13 years old children and keep them in custody for ninety-three days but the government has not been able to arrest Yahaya Bello, six months after.”

“Is it not a parody of some sort, that we have a country for the poor and another country for the rich. Our laws are very clear, it is fourty-eight hours, the police are in breach of the fundamental rights of this children.” he said while speaking to newsmen after the case in court.

“We are not going to delve into the substance of the issue which is already before the court, so that we will not make remarks that are subjudice but what we are saying very simple, Yahaya Bello six months later has not been arrested but you arrest our children, you keep them in custody for ninety-three days.”

“These children, they are already looking like they have Kwanshiorkor, you cannot keep them in custody for this long, this is why our rating in human rights index is poor. We make a passionate appeal to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, that he should discontinue the charge against this children, so that the children can return back to school.”

He appealed to the leverage on the constitutional provision to take over the case.

“Attorney general of the federation has inherent powers to take over this case under section 174 of the constitution and discontinue the case.”

“I cried in open court because of this great injstice that has been done,” he noted.

The outrage on the case which has seen malnourished children and five of those charged fainting has continued, with many Nigerians and International bodies condemning the federal government actions.

SaharaReporters had reported that the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, requested for the case file of the #EndBadGovernance protesters arraigned by the Nigerian police on Friday, including underage children, some of whom colapsed in the courtroom. 

SaharaReporters earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu had ordered the Minister of Justice, Fagbemi, to review the treasonable felony charges brought against the underage and malnourished children before the Federal High Court in Abuja which has attracted national and global outrage. 

SaharaReporters on Friday evening learnt that Tinubu ordered the AGF to review the cases and make recommendations accordingly after the Nigerian presidency came under scrutiny for maltreating underage children accused of bogus charges for participating in the #EndBadGovernance protest.