Police: Anyone above seven years old can be arraigned in court

Muyiwa Adejobi, spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), says individuals above seven years old can be charged in court.

The force spokesperson’s comment comes in the wake of outrage over the arraignment of minors for participating in the #EndBadGovernance protest.

Between August 1 and 10, the protest was held nationwide to demand a reduction in the cost of governance, the return of petrol subsidy, improved food security and fiscal discipline, among others.

The protest turned violent in some parts of the country while hoodlums looted and vandalised public and private properties.

After the protests, the police announced the arrest of alleged perpetrators of violence and looting in some states.

On Friday, some of those arrested, many of whom are children, were brought before a federal high court in Abuja.

At the commencement of the proceedings, four of the alleged protesters were hurriedly rushed out after they collapsed.

The court later granted N10 million bail to each of the 72 defendants and removed four sick children’s names from the charge, while the remaining defendants pleaded not guilty.

Many Nigerians, including leading politicians, have condemned the arraignment of minors by the federal government.

However, Rimazonte Ezekiel, the federal government prosecutor, claimed that all the persons arraigned were adults.

Ezekiel denied that there were minors among the suspects, adding that “most of them are married men”.

He also claimed that the “small kids” present in court “came with their parents to greet their loved ones” and “are not even the real suspects standing trial in this case”.

‘POLICE CONTRADICT FG LAWYER… BUT SAY 7-YEAR-OLD CAN BE ARRAIGNED’

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television late on Friday, the police spokesperson said the youngest among those arraigned is aged 13.

“Those that are not criminally liable under the law, those are the young ones below the age of seven,” Adejobi said.

“Once you are more than seven, you can be charged to court. The only thing is that you need to follow certain procedures to do that.

“But none of them is less than seven. I think the youngest should be 13. The fact that you are 13 years old doesn’t mean you cannot be charged to court.

“Even in the Children and Young Persons Act, you can still be charged to court. Because you are 13 years old, you can go to court. So we have charged them to court for this.”

The spokesperson said the persons arraigned allegedly hijacked the protests.

“These are those who actually are leveraged on the #EndBadGovernance protests; they hijacked the protests and they are so violent,” he said.

“They are people who were flying Russian flags and many foreign flags, which of course is a punishable offence.

“So they are criminally liable. We have not charged any underage in our own context here to court.”