Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has openly criticized the ongoing prosecution of underage children over the #EndBadGovernance protest.
The governor noted that despite being supported to win the presidency in 2023, President Bola Tinubu has turned against children from the northern region.
Mohammed slammed the treasonable felony charges filed against the minors despite their right to protest.
Mohammed, however, blamed governors and leaders from the region for the plight of the kids, saying, “It’s us, yes, we failed to rise to the defense of those vulnerable kids.”
According to him, most of the kids being charged with treasonable felony are Almajiris.
Almajirai or Almajiris are children, usually from poor rural backgrounds, who leave their hometowns to study Islamic learning with teachers of the Quran.
Governor Mohammed decried the lumping together of the underage children with convicts in the same detention facility, describing some of the convicts as “hardened criminals”.
“It can only make things worse for the country,” he said.
“We condemn in strong terms the action of the federal government against the children because Nigeria is a signatory to a United Nations protocol which protects children.
“This callous disposition and lack of empathy is quite disturbing for underage children to be arraigned in such a court.
“On our part as governors, we have shown leadership lapses by not responding swiftly to issues affecting children and their rights. Once people are arrested and taken into custody, it’s appropriate we rise to the occasion to get to determine the ages of those involved.”
On why the governors from the North abandoned the children until now, he said, “Initially we had no idea they were underage children, until their pictures started surfacing; some of them are even Almajiris studying under different Quranic teachers.
“Moreover, we least expected they would be mixed with adult inmates in the same cell. We thought they would be kept in juvenile facilities with good care as provided by our laws. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We were greatly disturbed after seeing their malnourished images.”
“We must speak the truth by telling the federal government that human rights abuses are not allowed under our laws; especially when it affects children,” Governor Mohammed added.