One of many teams behind the #EndBadGovernance protests nationwide, the Take It Again Motion, has slammed the bail situations imposed on 10 protesters by the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja.
The courtroom set bail at ₦10 million for every of the ten people.
Justice Emeka Nwite additionally dominated that every defendant should present a surety of the identical quantity, and should be an Abuja resident and a property proprietor. The sureties should deposit the property paperwork with the courtroom and swear an affidavit of means.
Within the cost sheet marked FHC/ABJ/CR/454/2024, the defendants had been accused of “treason, destabilising the nation, intimidating the President, and destroying the NCC in Kano,” amongst different costs.
The Inspector-Common of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, accused the protesters of conspiring to destabilise the nation and committing treason between 1 July and 4 August 2024.
Reacting to the bail situations, TIB’s Nationwide Coordinator, Sanyaolu Juwon, described them as “punitive and excessively stringent.”
Juwon mentioned, “Right now, the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja granted bail to 10 #EndBadGovernance protesters charged with treason. Whereas we acknowledge the choice to grant bail, the Take It Again Motion strongly condemns the excessively stringent situations connected to their launch.
“A ₦10 million bail and the requirement for sureties with properties value that quantity in Abuja is punitive and aimed toward additional oppressing peaceable residents exercising their elementary rights.”
He pressured that the protesters had been advocating for good governance, transparency, and accountability—none of that are crimes beneath the structure.
“Protest is just not treason; it’s a constitutional proper,” he mentioned.
Juwon additionally known as for the discharge of the remaining 69 protesters who’re nonetheless detained with out formal costs on the orders of Justice Nwite.
“The continued detention of those people is a violation of their rights and an abuse of judicial authority,” Juwon mentioned, including that the costs in opposition to all of the protesters ought to be dropped.
He concluded, “The Take It Again Motion calls for that every one costs in opposition to the protesters be dropped, and the Nigerian authorities instantly ceases its crackdown on lawful demonstrations. Our nation can not progress if residents are criminalised for talking out in opposition to dangerous governance.”
