The Federal High Court in Abuja struck out the treason trial of Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 other #EndBadGovernance protesters on Wednesday.
“The Judge just struck out our case due to the lack of diligence of the prosecutor, who was absent in court,” Lenin told FIJ.
He said Justice Emeke Nwite, the presiding judge, struck out the treason and terrorism charges against 11 of them.
In October, FIJ reported that the court had fixed the second Wednesday in December for the continuation of the trial, marking the fifth time since the matter was adjourned.
Lenin and the other activists — Daniel Akande, Mosiu Sodeeq, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu — were arrested and charged with treason over the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests of August 2024.
Nigerians, who got tired of the economic hardship, high cost of living and anti-people policies of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, among others, trooped out to protest from August 1 to 10.
Among other demands, the conveners wanted the government to address hunger, rising cost of living, insecurity, reduce waste in the Executive and the National Assembly, and release all imprisoned #EndSARS protesters.
During the protest, the police arrested these 11 protesters and many others, detained and charged them with treason, intimidation of the president, incitement to mutiny, destabilisation of the country and other crimes.
Speaking on Wednesday, one of their lawyers said, “Three charges were filed; two were withdrawn after a lot of pleas. They sustained this third leg of the charge for over a year — almost two years. We strongly demanded that the charge against these 11 is inherently defective. The court saw reason with us and dismissed the case today, and discharged and acquitted the defendants.”
He added, “The next demand we are making of the government is that these 11 people must be compensated. Their lives have been put on hold for over a year. Their accounts were frozen. Till this moment, some of them can still not access the funds in their various accounts.
“These guys were charged in court and portrayed to the world as criminals. Till this moment, their businesses and livelihoods were taken away by this same government. They have suffered untold hardship materially, emotionally and physically. They committed no offence other than asking that the government be responsible to the citizenry.”
