The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out the charges against the #EndBadGovernance protesters, most of whom were minors, following a withdrawal of the case by the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi.
The ruling was made by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, who granted the Attorney General’s application to discontinue the trial. The move comes after widespread public outcry over the arrest and prosecution of the protesters, who had been accused of treason for their involvement in the August protests against the government’s handling of Nigeria’s economic and political challenges.
Fagbemi, represented by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), announced that the government was exercising its powers under Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution to take over the case from the Inspector General of Police (IGP). He applied to discontinue the trial, which was approved by the court.
In his ruling, Justice Egwuatu struck out the charges and ordered the immediate release of the accused protesters from detention, although none of the accused persons were present in the courtroom during the proceedings.
The courtroom was attended by several key figures, including the newly appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda.
The move to drop the charges follows a directive from President Bola Tinubu, who on Monday instructed the Attorney General to terminate the proceedings against the protesters. The president’s intervention came after a national outcry sparked by the minors’ arraignment, which had been widely condemned as disproportionate, especially given the protests’ underlying grievances about Nigeria’s governance and socio-economic conditions.