The Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners’ Forum has called for the immediate release of 76 minors arrested by the police over #Endbadgovernance protest, describing the arrest as breach of right of the victims.
In a statement, Chairman of the Forum, Alhaji Abdullahi Yelwa, described the arrest as a violation to the dignity of the victims.
“This irresponsible act of inhumanity by the police that had attracted national and international outrage, will forever be a stain on our national consciousness as a democratic country.”
“We therefore condemn in strongest terms this inhuman treatment metted on fellow Nigerians, whose only crime was exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights to protest,” he said.
Yelwa said the claim by the government that it had uncovered the identities of the sponsors of #EndBadGovernance protest, made the prosecution of the boys a child play.
He said, “We therefore call on the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute anyone found culpable for the detention and mistreatment of these children. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Nigeria under President Tinubu is fast becoming a police state where the rights of the citizens are daily being trampled upon.
“As observed recently by the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria, BON, even the press has not been spared, with journalists being regularly arrested for no just reason.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the causes of the social upheaval being witnessed in the country are directly attributable to the destabilizing and debilitating effects of the policies of the President.”
The forum lamented that many citizens die daily from hunger and hardship, asking the federal government to address the challenges that pushed citizens to embark on protest.
The forum also called for immediate release of the 76 detainees and ensure their safety and well-being, adding that medical help be provided for the minors that collapsed in the court.