Breaking: Court strikes out treason charges against minors, other #EndBadGovernance protesters

Breaking: Court strikes out treason charges against minors, other #EndBadGovernance protesters

 

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the treason charges brought against 76 minors and other #EndBadGovernance protesters by the Inspector General of Police.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu struck out the charges on Tuesday after the withdrawal of the case by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.

This was based on an application by the counsel to the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, to take over and discontinue the matter and discontinue the proceedings.

He invoked the Attorney General’s powers under Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution to assume control of the case from the Inspector General of Police.

Upon approving this request, Justice Egwuatu granted the AGF’s subsequent request under the same constitutional provision to discontinue the prosecution of the 119 defendants.

With no objections raised by the defence counsels, Justice Egwuatu struck out the charges and ordered the immediate release of the defendants from custody, though they were not present in court.

President Bola Tinubu on Monday directed the AGF to terminate proceedings against the defendants, most of whom are minors.