Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has remanded 10 #EndBadGovernance protesters in prison.
The judge, on Monday, remanded nine male protesters in the Kuje prison while a female protester was remanded in Suleja.
The court also fixed September 11 for trial and ruling on bail application by the protesters.
This followed the arraignment of the protesters for alleged treason, mutiny and intent to destabilise Nigeria.
The 10 persons who were arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite are Michael Adaramoye also known as Lenin, Adeyemi Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Simon, and Angel Innocent.
Others are Buhari Lawal, Mosiu Sadiq, Bashir Bello, Nuradeen Khamis, and Abdulsalam Zubairu.
The defendants, who all pleaded not guilty, were arraigned on six counts of alleged treason, intent to destabilise Nigeria, conspiracy to commit felony and inciting to mutiny which is an offence punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code.
The defendants are equally accused of levying war against the state to intimidate President Bola Tinubu by attacking and injuring police officers and burning police stations, government buildings and private buildings.
Responding to the trial of protesters arrested during the nationwide #EndBadGovrnance protests between August 1 and 10, 2024, the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, said: “We condemn the sham trials even before they began and call for an end to these endless bizarre attempts to deprive people of the right to peaceful protest.
What is going to happen to these protesters – who took to the streets last month seeking good governance – is a disguised exercise solely aimed at punishing dissenters?
“The Nigerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those arrested from 1-10 August for exercising their right to peaceful assembly, instead of resorting to putting them through trumped-up charges just to justify unlawfully detaining them.
“The Nigerian government has been wrongfully placing priority on punishing protesters, without saying even a word on the urgent need to investigate the killing of dozens of protesters across Kano, Katsina, Suleja/Tafa, Jigawa and Maiduguri. Many protesters were subjected to horrific violations by security personnel, including excessive use of force and misuse of tear gas.”
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
Propagated on social media, the 10-day #EndBadGovernance protests against economic hardship was staged by youths from August 1 to 10.
Some of the protesters’ demands include the restoration of petrol subsidies and the forex regime. They also want the government to address food shortages, unemployment, and the wasteful spending of those in power. Other demands are a reduction of the President’s cabinet and general cost of governance, immediate reforms of the electoral umpire INEC and anti-graft agency EFCC with renewed vigour in the fight against corrupt politicians.
The protests turned awry in Kano, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Jigawa, Nasarawa and other states where rampaging hoodlums took advantage of the situation and burned vehicles, and looted warehouses and private stores. Police said seven persons died during incidents around the protests but denied that security agents killed any of the victims.
Policemen were seen dispersing protesters using tear gas, even as civil society organisations condemned the action of the police.
