HUMAN rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Federal Government to reintegrate and enrol all minors arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests in school.
On Friday, 76 suspects, mostly minors who appeared malnourished, were arraigned in connection with the protests. Six of them collapsed and were rushed out of the courtroom.
Following public outrage over the incident, President Bola Tinubu ordered the case against the minors to be withdrawn on Monday.
While reviewing a book titled Judiciary Terrorism by Richard Akinnola in Abuja on Tuesday, Falana stated that the government was too embarrassed to bring another group, including 29 minors, to court after Friday’s public outcry.
Falana vowed to take the Federal Government to court if the minors were not sent to school, insisting that withdrawing the case was insufficient.
He said, “Just this morning before this programme began, I was in the courts here in Abuja, where 119 Nigerians, including twenty-nine minors, were brought to court. But the government was so ashamed that it couldn’t bring them into the courtroom, unlike last week.
“The government came to court this morning to withdraw the frivolous charges, so the young people have been freed.
“But as I told the court, it’s not enough to terminate this trial. These young people, who should have been in school during the protests, must be rehabilitated by the government. And we will ensure they are rehabilitated and sent to school.
