Drop Sham Charges and End Treason Trial of #EndBadGovernance Activists
Treason Trial of Michael Lenin and 10 Others Comes Up Again on October 9 at FHC Abuja
Again, on Thursday October 9, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 other activists are expected to appear, for the fifth time, before the Federal High Court in Abuja for a treason trial as a result of their participation in the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in August 2024. We of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) believe that what the activists are facing is a sham trial as protest against anti-poor policies is not tantamount to treason.
We therefore demand that the government withdraws the trumped-up charges preferred against these #EndBadGovernance protesters who are currently on bail with stringent conditions after having been incarcerated for at least two months both in the police custody and prisons. The other activists are Daniel Akande, Mosiu Sodeeq, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent (female), Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu.
We strongly believe that the government cannot prove the charges against the activists as they are ridiculous and frivolous. For instance, the police in their charge sheet state that the activists committed treason, which carries a death penalty, because they carried a placard with a message: “End Bad Government”.
We believe that the inability to prove the charges is the reason the government has continued to employ delayed tactics in this case, something in which the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, appears to be complicit. Since last November when the trial was first scheduled, it was only on the last adjourned date of June 25 that Judge himself was available in court, having been absent three times previously. Even at the said last sitting, there was no trial as a lawyer who appeared as the new police prosecutor, in order to further waste time, requested more time to study the case. We challenge Justice Nwite to fulfill the promise he made in the court on June 25 that he would strike out the case if the prosecutor further delays the trial.
It is not out of place to conclude that as part of its wider policy of criminalizing dissent, the government is determined to tie the treason trial around the neck of the #EndBadGovernance activists in order to serve as deterrent to another mass protest against its anti-poor policies.
Therefore, we call on civil society organisations, human rights groups, socialist and left groups, trade unions, activists and individuals of good conscience, in Nigeria and internationally, to support the demand for dropping of charges against the eleven #EndBadGovernance activists on trial in Abuja, and others across the country on similar sham trials, in order to totally regain their freedom. There should be also demands for an end to attacks on democratic rights and reversal of all anti-poor policies, which were the reason for the nationwide protest in the first place.
We commend individuals and groups, locally and internationally, who have been part of the struggle and solidarity for freedom for #EndBadGovernance activists since August 2024. We call for continued solidarity actions until there is total victory.
Francis Nwapa
National Secretary,
Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)
Email: [email protected]