The Federal High Court in Abuja granted an August 8 motion for the remand of no fewer than 75 Nigerians accused of attempting to overthrow the government through their participation during the #EndBadGovernance protest, FIJ has learnt.
Court documents FIJ saw on Monday showed at least 22 of the names on the motion were children below 18.
Pursuant to section 66(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, section 35 (1)(C) of the 1999 constitution and section 299 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), approached the court to grant the motion, saying the accused persons were under investigation.
The police accused these persons of acts of terrorism, treason and treasonable felonies, arson, and terrorism-related offences.
FIJ observed that the court confirmed receipt of the motion and an affidavit of urgency on August 21. According to the contents of this affidavit, Gregory Woje, a staff of the Nigeria Police Force’s Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), swore that the detainees had gathered with a plan to “cause mayhem in the country which may eventually lead to the destruction of life and property”.
He said a deputy IGP received intelligence confirming this.
Woje also said financiers of the protest were sending money to recruit youths to “carry banners and overthrow a democratically elected government”.
On Sunday, Deji Adeyanju, an Abuja-based lawyer, told FIJ he had discovered over 100 protesters were in detention in Abuja, while over 1,000 were in detention in Kano State.
The #EndBadGovernance protest spanned 10 days from August 1 to 10, 2024 as Nigerians nationwide marched to demand changes to policies that impoverished the country’s citizens.
@FIJ
