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#EndBadGovernance Protest: CSOs Decry Detention Of Malnourished Minors
In Nigeria, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have strongly condemned the detention and alleged mistreatment of malnourished minors linked to the #EndBadGovernance protests.
Concerns heightened after reports emerged that several detained children, some as young as 15, collapsed from malnutrition inside a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday. These minors have been in custody since August, detained by the Nigerian police for participating in protests against escalating insecurity and deprivation in the country.
The CSOs involved include the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transparency International, Amnesty International, and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG). Their spokesperson, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, called for intervention from First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, urging her to regard the detained young individuals as “her own children.”
The organizations appealed to President Bola Tinubu to stop these actions from government officials, including the Minister of Justice, and to ensure the immediate release of the minors. Rafsanjani expressed, “It is alarming and damaging to Nigeria’s global reputation to witness such treatment of young citizens exercising their constitutional rights.”
He added, “The inhumane detention and treatment of these children must cease. Those who unjustly detained these minors are the true offenders, and this situation demands urgent action.”
Social media has been flooded with images and videos from the courtroom showing the distressing scenes of minors lying on the floor as lawyers and others attempted to aid them. This incident occurred when the minors were transported to court from various police detention centers, where they reportedly faced inadequate food and medical care.
Sources assert that the extended detention and harsh conditions were punitive measures against the minors, who have been accused of opposing the government without credible evidence.
The CSOs have called upon the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take decisive action in defending the rights of the detained minors. They also urged international organizations such as UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and Save the Children Foundation to condemn the situation and advocate for the minors’ unconditional release.
Rafsanjani stressed, “Detaining these children under such horrific conditions is unacceptable. We urge all relevant authorities to ensure their prompt release and to hold accountable those responsible for their detention. This incident tarnishes our national commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights.”
The minors were initially detained following a police directive alleging their involvement in a purported scheme to destabilize the government. However, the CSOs and various human rights advocates contend that their detention breaches both national and international human rights standards.
Police authorities have called on the organisers of a nationwide protest billed for April 7, 2025, to shelve the plan.
The Take-It-Back (TIB) movement had scheduled a nationwide protest for Monday, April 7, 2025, citing several national issues.
However, in a statement on Sunday, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Muyiwa Adejobi, described the protest as ill-timed, especially as it coincided with the National Police Day celebration.
“In line with best global practices adopted by nations in celebrating the achievements of its Police institution, the Nigerian Government has taken the bull by the horn by declaring every April 7 as National Police Day,” the police statement read.
“The rationale behind staging a nationwide protest on the same day is however questionable and perceived to be a deliberate attempt and unpatriotic act that is capable of rubbishing and maligning the image of the Nigeria Police and the nation as a whole. The Nigeria Police Force hereby advises the organizers to shelve this planned protest as it is ill-timed and mischievous.”
According to the Nigeria Police Force, the organisers should instead give room for dialogue with the government.
“The Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, while reaffirming the commitment of the NPF to adequately carrying out its mandate in accordance with the Law and respect for rights of citizens hereby urges all the organizers of the planned protest as well as individuals who intend to join the protest to pursue dialogue by engaging the proper institution of government to press home their demands,” the police said.
A longlist of notable politicians including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi are in talks to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
This is according to the SDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election Adewole Adebayo.
Adebayo said Atiku and Obi’s men are in talks for their principals to team up with the SDP, which recently welcomed a former Kaduna State governor and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (SDP) into its fold.
“People are joining my party, and we are welcoming them. You can see how active I am in welcoming them. The only little issue we have with some of them is to change the culture where if you have not been in an environment where rules are taken seriously,” the SDP chieftain said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“Some of them are doing some Boy Scouts, black market operations, we are dealing with that. But we welcome them into the party. All these people you have mentioned, El-Rufai, Atiku Abubakar, even former Governor Peter Obi are coming. A lot of people are coming, and we will welcome them.”
When he was asked to clarify if Obi, a former Anambra State governor, is joining the SDP, Adebayo said, “Supposedly, until somebody joins, we don’t know. But people have told me, and the Financial Secretary (SDP) has also informed me, that they are talking. So we will welcome everybody.
“Surely, when we come in, and we don’t become a tower of Babel; if we come in, follow the rules and allow one person to emerge transparently, clearly, without cheating, without criminality the way we did our convention in 2022, people applauded us transparently, no court case, no crisis, no allegations.
“If they can stick to our culture and follow the way we do in the SDP and produce a good alternative to Nigerians, we are going to manifestly defeat the APC and retire President Tinubu to Lagos or wherever he chooses in Nigeria.”
Obi, who enjoys the backing of millions of Nigerian youths, came third in the last presidential election after polling about six million votes.
Atiku was second in the poll won by the APC’s Bola Tinubu.
Despite suggestions to the contrary, Obi has repeatedly said he remains in LP, the party that powered his 2023 presidential ambition.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have intercepted cocaine hidden inside the walls of several suitcases.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a post on Sunday, attaching the videos of the seized contraband on X.
He decried a situation whereby the smugglers went to extreme lengths, factory-fitting the hard drugs within the luggage with surgical precision.
“Narco-trend update: Strewing the walls of suitcases, in factory fitting precision, with cocaine, must have taken lot of efforts and resources but at the end #ndlea_nigeria officers still uncovered all as revealed in these videos that captured the latest seizure by #ndlea,” the statement read.
According to the video released by the agency, officers were slicing through suitcase linings to remove the hidden cocaine.