Northern Groups Decry Detention Of Minors, Demand Release

Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has lamented the detention of some  Nigerians, especially minors for over 90 days before their arraignment before the Federal High Court on Friday in Abuja for exercising their constitutional rights in a protest against hunger and bad governance.

The coalition, in a statement by the national coordinator, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, said it was learnt that at least four of the children collapsed in the courtroom during the arraignment as a result of hunger and absence of medical care while in custody.

“Unfortunately, the detention and arraignment of those frail, malnourished and hapless children have exposed the government as a desperate entity that is determined to de-market and embarrass Nigeria before the international community while presenting its credentials for medals in gross inhumanity.

“The continued detention and mistreatment of these minors is a gross violation of their basic rights, including the right to freedom of expression and assembly. CNG strongly condemns this abuse of power and the blatant disregard for the welfare and dignity of young citizens.

“The treatment these children are receiving highlights a troubling failure of state actors to prioritise the welfare and rights of its most vulnerable citizens, children, especially when their ‘crime’ was to demand better governance and accountability,” Aliyu stated.

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Similarly, the national leadership of the Northern Youth Assembly (Majalisar Matasan Arewa), on behalf of the 19 northern states chapters, has also expressed dismay over the content of a viral video of some underaged children looking hungry, depressed and malnourished, arraigned before the high court in Abuja.

This was contained in a statement by the group signed by its president, Dr Ali Idris Mohammed and made available to newsmen in Kano, yesterday.

“It is our belief that the event at the court was nothing but an additional damage done on the little integrity left of the Nigerian judiciary and the Nigerian criminal administration system as a whole. This has therefore constituted what could be best described as devastating, heartbreaking, pathetic and appalling, to say the least.

“The Nigerian criminal law has provided that all criminal cases must be presented before the courts not later than 48 hours, and anything contrary to this may amount to an infringement on the fundamental rights of any suspect, except on some conditions especially under the strict instructions of a competent court of law.

“The continued detention of those helpless and poor children by the federal government authorities is not only a blatant disregard to the provisions of the laws of the land but also a deliberate scheme to destroy the future of those young people or even jeopardise their lives,” Dr Idris said.