#EndBadGovernance: Trial of Minors Disgraceful, Despicable – Bode George
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, has condemned the arraignment of no fewer than 76 protesters arrested during the last #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest in the country, many of them, being minors, a development that has generated public condemnation.
The minors, who were last Friday arraigned by the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on 10 counts, including treason, incitement to mutiny by urging the military to remove President Bola Tinubu and other related charges, were visibly looking malnourished in a video which circulated online.
The defendants were brought to the courtroom, four of them – the 8th, 66th, 69th, and 49th defendants – collapsed while moving to the dock. They lay on the floor in pain, prompting lawyers and prison officers to assist them out of the courtroom.
George decried the detention and arraignment of the minors in court, describing it as “absolutely despicable”, “disgraceful”, and “shameful”.
He said the Inspector General of Police ought to have taken a decisive position on the detention of the minors and ordered appropriate actions in dealing with them, against what he described as the “wicked” and “inhumane” treatment meted to them.
The former military governor of Ondo State traced the problems of the country to the multiplier effects of the mismanagement of the electoral process by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
George, however, said the call for the military in governance is unacceptable but maintained the failure of the government of the day was the major bait behind some people giving a spot for military intervention.
