Below is the text of a press conference addressed by the #Endbadgovernance movement, Lagos State Chapter, on Wednesday 6 November 2024 at the International Press Centre (IPC), Ogba, to respond to the discontinuation of suit and release of 114 protesters including minors and to call for similar reprieve for all the remaining protesters in detention and on trial nationwide.
A CALL ON PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU TO WITHDRAW CHARGES AGAINST ALL #ENDBADGOVERNANCE PROTESTERS IN DETENTION AND ON TRIAL
Ladies and gentlemen of the press,
We welcome you all to this press conference organized by the #EndbadGovernance Movement Lagos State Chapter. The purpose of the press conference is to respond to the release of 114 detained protesters including minors yesterday Tuesday 5 November 2024 and to demand the dropping of charges against all the remaining protesters in detention and on trial particularly Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others whose trial for treason is scheduled to commence at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday 8 November 2024.
Without doubt, we received with great relief the news of the release of the 114 protesters including the 32 children whose arraignment last Friday led to a national and global outrage. Mind you however, this development is not a product of President Tinubu’s magnanimity, rather it is a product of fear of the Nigerian people’s anger as well as the local and global outrage the situation generated due to the relentless campaign of groups and organizations who subjected the regime to a blistering criticism.
Left to the despotic Tinubu regime, the children would not be released. This is because the arrest and arraignment of the children for terrorism and treason was an important part of the Tinubu regime’s toolkit of intimidation tactics aimed at striking fear into the heart of the Nigerian populace and anyone who dares to oppose its anti-poor policies. Faced with the kind of mass uprising that erupted during the August protest, the regime needed very seriously to show that no one, not even children, would be spared its wrath. This is the only rational way to understand the fiasco we saw on national television and social media last week Friday when sick and malnourished children were dragged before a court of law to answer to charges of treason.
What changed the situation and caused the regime’s intimidation tactics to boomerang was the determined response of the Nigerian people. By uniting to call out the regime, we were able to force it to retreat and carry out a complete discharge of the protesters who, as at last week, had been locked up for over three months and slammed with grievous charges of treason which carries a death penalty. So, in every way, the release of the children is the first victory in our long-term struggle to rid Nigeria of bad governance and the anti-poor and neo-liberal capitalist policies that have led to unprecedented levels of hunger and hardship for our people.
Sadly, the release of the children cannot atone for the damage already done to them. During the nearly 100 days of their incarceration, the children were subjected to all kinds of ill-treatment including starvation and torture. Their rights as children were not respected in violation of all relevant provisions of the Child Rights Act as well as a host of international conventions protecting the rights of children. Not only were they detained in adult facilities and arraigned without protection for their privacy, the false and trumped-up charges of terrorism and treason leveled against them is likely to haunt them for years to come.
To this extent, we demand public apology by the government and payment of adequate compensation to the children and all detained protesters. We also call for the sack of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) under whose custody the children suffered untold ill-treatment, torture and starvation. We call for an independent probe panel composed of elected representatives of civil society organizations, trade unions and professional groups to investigate the circumstances surrounding the children’s ordeal with a view to identifying government and security officials that are directly responsible for their ill-treatment so they can be appropriately sanctioned.
The protest that erupted between 1st to 10 August 2024 due to the severe hunger and hardship unleased by President Tinubu’s anti-poor capitalist policies of subsidy removal, fuel price hike and currency devaluation was a desperate cry by Nigerian people for answers to the roaring cost of living crisis. During the protest, about 40 peaceful protesters were killed by the police and other security agents. At least about 2,100 protesters were arrested nationwide out of which hundreds are still in jail and on trial in different parts of the country as at today. For instance, on Monday 4 November 2024, 19 protesters including three minors were arraigned at a Federal High Court in Maiduguri Borno state for terrorism and treason. Similarly, 11 protesters, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others, are due back at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday 8 November 2024 for the commencement of their trial for treason.
When critically evaluated, the charges against the discharged 114 protesters and Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others are broadly the same. The cases against both batches of protesters are equally ridiculous as the proof of evidence is inadequate to sustain the charges against them. For instance, Adaramoye Michael was arrested only because he happens to go by the nickname “Lenin” which is Russian. Lenin is the name of Vladimir Ilyich, the leader of the Socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917. Being a Socialist and a member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Adaramoye Michael Lenin adopted this name as his nickname in line with the tradition in the students and activists movement in Nigeria. Michael has no relationship whatsoever with the Russian dictator, Putin, whose vicious capitalist regime is an antithesis of the aims of the Russian Socialist revolution of 1917.
According to the charge sheets against the 11 defendants, the proof of evidence to sustain the 6 count charge against them are the following: (1) Statement of the defendants, (2) Telephone of the suspects (3) Forensic analysis of the telephones of the suspects and call data (4) Videos CD/DVD of the riot/inciting disturbance (5) Books/Placards, pamphlets recovered (6) Photographs of properties looted and some destroyed (7) CD/DVD/flash drive of government and other properties looted/destroyed (8) Telephone call logs and handsets (9) CAC documents and other documents (10) Any other relevant exhibits.
For a group of defendants who are being tried for grievous offenses ranging from treason to mutiny, and intent to destabilize and levy war against Nigeria, you would have expected that the government would have been able to provide more convincing and incriminating evidence to prove its case like weapons and other indicators. But the truth of the matter is that the charges against the 11 protesters, just as the charges against the 114 including the children, are trumped up and false charges. There is no iota of truth to these charges which the Amnesty International has rightly described as a sham trial.
All the defendants did was to participate in peaceful protests across the country between 1 to 10 August 2024 to demand an end to hunger and hardship. If there was any grain of truth to the allegations, the regime would not have been able to withdraw the charges against the 114 protesters. This is why we are now calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to withdraw charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Angel Love Innocent, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Eleojo Simon, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu as well as all other peaceful protesters in detention and on trial nationwide. We also call for the meeting of the demands of the August protest especially regarding the reversal of fuel price hike, electricity tariff hike, hike in food prices as well as all anti-poor policies. Without meeting these demands, President Tinubu should continue to expect to see more protests and demonstrations by the Nigerian people.
To drive home our demand for the release of all #Endbadgovernance protesters on trial and in detention, we have declared Friday 8 November 2024, the day the trial of the 11 protesters for treason is scheduled to commence, a day of solidarity. On this day, we are urging the Nigerian people to demonstrate their support for the demand for freedom for all #Endbadgovernance protesters in detention and on trial. On our own part, we are going to hold a peaceful rally on this day. The rally will be held as follows:
- DATE: Friday 8 November 2024
- TIME: 7am
- TAKE-OFF POINT: Ikeja Under Bridge from where we shall march to submit a petition demanding dropping of charges against all protesters on trial and unconditional release of those in detention to the Chief Judge of Lagos state for onward transmission to the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
We can also reliably inform you that the Nigerian Solidarity UK and other groups abroad are also planning a series of solidarity activities including a protest at the Nigerian High Commission in London by 5:30 pm on Friday November 8 2024 to demand the release of all protesters on trial and in detention. Similar actions will take place at the Nigerian embassy in Berlin, Germany. So, in a sense, this is going to be a day of international solidarity to mount pressure on the Tinubu regime to release peaceful protesters and also meet our demands for answers to the cost of living crisis.
In conclusion, be rest assured that we shall not relent in our struggle to end bad governance in Nigeria. Despite the intimidation and repression that we face today, the struggle of the Nigerian people shall be victorious.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto
Osugba Blessing
Oloye Adegboyega-Adeniji
For the Organising Committee, #Endbadgovernance Movement, Lagos State
