ABUJA, Nigeria
Twenty-nine children could be
facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they
were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest against the country’s
record cost-of-living crisis.
Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a
plea.
A total of 76 protesters were
charged with 10 felony counts, including treason, destruction of property,
public disturbance and mutiny, according to the charge sheet seen by The
Associated Press.
According to the charge sheet,
the minors ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.
Frustration over the
cost-of-living crisis has led to several mass protests in recent months. In
August, at least 20 people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested at a
protest demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people.
The death sentence was
introduced in the 1970s in Nigeria, but there have been no executions in the
country since 2016.
Akintayo Balogun, a private
lawyer based in Abuja, said the Child Rights Act does not allow any child to be
subject to criminal proceedings and sentenced to death.
“So taking minors before a
federal high court is wrong, ab initio, except if the government is able to
prove that the boys are all above 19 years,” Balogun said.
The court eventually granted 10-million-naira
($5,900) bail to each the defendants and imposed stringent conditions they are
yet to meet, Marshal Abubakar, counsel to some of the boys, said.
“A country that has a duty to
educate its children will decide to punish those children. These children have
been in detention for 90 days without food,” Abubakar said.
Yemi Adamolekun, executive
director of Enough is Enough, a civil society organization promoting good
governance in Nigeria, said authorities have no business prosecuting children.
“The chief justice of Nigeria
should be ashamed, she is a woman and a mother,” Adamolekun said.
Despite being one of the top
crude oil producers in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the world’s poorest
countries. Chronic corruption means the lifestyle of its public officials
rarely mirrors that of the general population. Medical professionals often strike
to protest meager wages.
The country’s politicians and
lawmakers, often accused of corruption, are some of the best-paid in Africa.
Even the president’s wife — her office nowhere in the constitution — is
entitled to SUVs and other luxuries funded by taxpayers.
Nigeria’s population of over
210 million people — the continent’s largest — is also among the hungriest in
the world and its government has struggled to create jobs. The inflation rate
is also at 28-year high and the local naira currency at record lows against the
dollar.
On Thursday, Nigeria was
classified as a “hotspot of very high concern,” in a report from United
Nations’ food agencies, as large numbers of people are facing or are projected
to face critical levels of acute food insecurity in the West African country.
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