#EndBadGovernance: Protesters ask court to lift two-month detention order aganst them

A group of detained #EndBadGovernance demonstrators has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to lift its order permitting the police to remand them for two months earlier this month.

The judge, Emeka Nwite, issued the remand order on 22 August based on an application by the police requesting time to investigate the 75 detainees, including at least 28 minors, for alleged terrorism-related offences.

The police levelled weighty allegations of “terrorism, treason, treasonable felonies, arson, and other terrorism-related offences” against the protesters to obtain the detention order against them.

On 26 August, through a battery of Nigeria’s foremost human rights lawyers led by Femi Falana, the detainees filed an application before the court urging the same judge to either reverse his remand order or grant them bail “on liberal terms.”

They argued that the police obtained the ex-parte order for their detention by suppressing and misrepresenting material facts.

The lawyers acting on behalf of the detained Nigerians said the ex-parte application filed by the police did not disclose any fact linking their clients to any terrorist activity.

Nigerians poured onto the streets in major cities around the country between 1 and 10 August to protest economic hardship and bad governance.

The protesters blame the hardship on Mr Tinubu’s economic policies, underpinned by his announcement of removing petrol subsidies and floating the naira.

The #EndBadGovernance protests sought the reversal of the fuel price hike, the restoration of affordable electricity tariffs, and the reduction of import duties to previous rates.

They also demanded the reversal of hikes in tertiary education fees, the security of farmlands for farmers, and a reduction in the prices of staple foods.

The Nigerian government, through the police and other security forces, has launched a clamp-down on many persons linked to the protests. While the government has blocked the bank accounts of some, it has arrested and detained others.

How 75 detainees were arrested

The filing submitted to the Federal High Court in Abuja by Mr Falana and his team provides an insight into how the 75 detainees were arrested.

An affidavit filed in support of the suit noted that Opaluwa Eleojo, a human rights activist and trade unionist with the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), whose name topped the list of the detainees, was arrested at Mararaba, Nasarawa State, on 4 August without a warrant of arrest or prior invitation by the police.

The affidavit said another of the detainees, Adaramoye Michael, was arrested on 5 August at his home at about 2 a.m. in a Gestapo manner. It added that the police arrested him without an arrest warrant or a prior invitation.

Similarly, the court filing said Mosiu Abolaji Sodiq was arrested at about 2 a.m. on 5 August at his residence in Abuja.

Love Angel Innocent, who is the fifth on the detainees’ list, was arrested around 2 a.m. on 8 August at her residence, the affidavit added.

The filing said, “Most of the other respondents/applicants were arrested in the course of the peaceful protest called to demand an end to bad governance and mal-administration in the country, which includes but is not limited to the looting of public funds, profligacy ways of life of public officers, social injustices which have led to massive hunger and starvation in the country e.t.c.”

It added that this was despite the organisers writing a letter dated 26 July to the Inspector General of Police and the heads of the other security agencies in the country intimating them of the peaceful protest scheduled for 1 to 10 August. According to the filing, the organisers also wrote a similar letter dated 16 July to the Minister of the FCT.

“That the essence of the said letter was for the Inspector General of Police to provide adequate security for the peaceful protesters in order to prevent a breakdown of law and order,” the court document added.

“Detention order, illegal”

Before the police obtained the detention order on 22 August, they had kept most of the detainees in custody for more than two weeks since their arrest between 4 and 5 August.

The Nigerian constitution provides that no person can be held for more than 48 hours before presenting the person before a court of law.

Therefore, the detainees’ lawyers said the detention of their clients for an initial period beyond 48 hours before the court granted the ex parte order on 22 August was illegal under section 35 of the constitution.

They also maintained that the order ex-parte anchored on section 66 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2022, was obtained by the police “to legalise an illegal detention by the complainant/respondent.”

In issuing the order, the judge acted “without jurisdiction when his lordship made an order, “committing the defendants to a correctional centre pursuant to Section 299 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015’,” the detainees’ lawyer also argued.

Referencing section 293 (1) ACJA 2015, the lawyers argued that only a magistrate court can remand a person suspected of terrorism and other serious crimes.

They noted in the court filing that the detainees were already in police custody as of the hearing of the ex-parte motion seeking their detention yet refused to present them before the court.

They added that the police went beyond their limits by bringing the issue of terrorism into a case that was purely about the hunger protests.

READ ALSO: #EndBadGovernance Protest: Court adjourns hearing in FCT minister’s suit

For the lawyers, the police’s ex-parte motion was an abuse of the court process and should have been rejected by the judge.

The detainees’ application is expected to be served on the police.

The police will respond to the application before the judge sets a hearing date.