Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order the unconditional release of minors being detained over their alleged participation in the recent #EndBadGovernance protests in parts of the country and send them to school.
Frank who made the call in a press statement in Abuja on Sunday also condemned the detention of the minors in an adult correctional facility among hardened criminals, even as he sought the intervention of international community and child rights advocates to come to the aid of the children.
He equally condemned the N10 million bail posted by Justice Friday Egwuatu of the Federal Hight Court Abuja to be fulfilled by each of the minors before being allowed to regain their freedom, describing it as judicial tyranny and cruelty to children.
He lamented that the children had spent over 90 days in detention under inhuman conditions, saying even looters in the country who contributed to impoverishing and confining these kids to the streets don’t get similar treatment because they are buoyant financially to buy freedom when arrested.
Frank said: “For President Tinubu not to have ordered the release of these children since Friday but watched them sent to prison despite public outcry, shows heartlessness and lack of fatherly love and care for children.
“Even in Western countries like US and the UK, chilldren who are convicted of crimes of murder are not sent to jail but rather taken to juvenile homes for psychological therapy and rehabilitation. That is what Nigerians expected from the president.
“The silence of the president over these cruelty to children is one more reason that Nigerians have resolved to nickname him ‘T-Pain’ because the plight of these children ought to compel him to act as leader with conscience by considering these minors as his grand children or great grandchildren.
“The president must ditch bureaucracy at this time and immediately order the release of these children with a directive that they be immediately enrolled in school.
“Having watched the children sent to jail, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Lateef Fagbemi, after thought in retrieving their case file from the police, is merely a delayed tactics which further aggravates the trauma these children are presently going through.”
According to him, the ruling of the judge after seeing the harrowing plight of the kids in their malnourished and fragile state shows that the judiciary has been heavily compromised to reward corruption within the system of which they are beneficiaries.
“They have sold their conscience too. That’s why a judge can post N10 million and other stiff requirements as condition for each kid to be granted bail,” he said.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, commended Nigerians who have equally condemned the action of the police, FHC and silence of the president and said the only option left for Nigerians is to prepare to stop this ‘T-Pain ProMax’ with their votes in 2027.
He called on the international community and child’s rights advocates to come to the aid of these children and ensure they are released and that they and over 20 million out-of-school-children in the country are educated to enable them realise their potentials as future leaders.
