The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has urged President Bola Tinubu to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, to ensure the release of all #EndBadGovernance protesters, “including the 32 hungry and malnourished children.”
The request, which contained in a letter dated November 2, 2024, obtained by newsmen on Sunday, November 3, 2024, and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, noted that the detention of the protesters may discourage other citizens from exercising their rights, lamenting that the “children” and some other protesters were “detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights,” and if the president does not act on its recommendations within 48 hours, legal actions will be taken against him.
The letter, which was copied to the Chair-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Dr Matthew Gillett, urged Tinubu “to direct Mr Fagbemi and appropriate law enforcement agencies to promptly investigate the circumstances surrounding the grave violations of the human rights of the children and other protesters in detention, to identify and bring to justice those responsible, and to ensure justice and remedies for the victims.
The organisation stated that “bringing charges against children and detaining them simply for the peaceful exercise of their human rights is clearly not acting in the ‘best interests of the child,’” adding that their detention violates “their rights to education.”