On Monday, September 2, the Federal Government charged 10 #EndBadGovernance protesters with serious offenses including treason before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The charges, filed on August 30 under case number FHC/ABJ/CR/454/2024, were brought by the Inspector-General of Police. Among those charged are Michael Adaramoye, also known as Lenin; Adeyemi Abayomi; Suleiman Yakubu; Opaluwa Simon; Angel Innocent; Buhari Lawal; Mosiu Sadiq; Bashir Bello; Nuradeen Khakis; and Abdusalam Zubairu.
The protesters face accusations of treason, attempting to destabilize Nigeria, conspiracy to commit a felony, and inciting mutiny, which are all punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the nationwide protests against economic hardship took place between August 1 and August 10. Some demonstrations turned violent, resulting in looting and vandalism in various states.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Following their arraignment, the defense lawyers requested bail, arguing that the protesters were innocent until proven guilty. Marshall Abubakar, representing the 1st and 3rd defendants, argued that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015 does not require a written application for bail and claimed that the charges were unjustified. He highlighted that some defendants had already been in custody for up to 30 days.
Hamza Dantani, representing the 9th defendant, asked for bail on medical grounds, noting that his client suffers from asthma.
Deji Adeyanju, representing the 6th, 7th, and 8th defendants, urged the court to grant bail, emphasizing that the defendants were merely exercising their constitutional rights.
Other defense lawyers made similar requests for bail on behalf of their clients.
Prosecution counsel Simon Lough, SAN, opposed the bail applications, arguing that treason is a serious offense and that bail should only be granted in exceptional cases, which he believed had not been demonstrated.
Justice Nwite ordered the defendants to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre and set the next court date for September 11 to rule on the bail applications.
