Russian flag: Attorney General wades in, demands transfer of Minors’ case file to his office
About 32 minors who were apprehended for treasonable offenses have been given a lifeline after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) requested the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun to transfer the case file to his office, which will enable him make an informed decision.
The minors who were allegedly seen flying the Russian flag during the #EndBadGovernance protest were arraigned before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Their actions led to them being accused of trying to cause unrest in the nation.
Recall that Russia is currently in a war with Ukraine due to “US encroachment” after making moves to set up a NATO base in Ukraine.
The AGF, seemingly interested in the case, released a statement on late Friday stating that there are issues his office would like to review as regards the case and he has instructed the Inspector-General of Police to hand over the case file.
“There are some issues my office will need to look into regarding the matter to enable me to make an informed decision”, the AGF said.
“It is not within my power to vary the court order remanding the defendants in detention centres and adjourning the case to January. I have, however, directed the Nigeria Police to transfer the case file to my office and hand it over to the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation tomorrow, Saturday, November 2, 2024”.
“I have further directed the DPPF to immediately initiate steps to request an earlier adjournment date,” he added.
An anonymous source from the Federal Ministry of Justice, while speaking with PUNCH confirmed that the IGP has already transferred the case files and the AGFs office is speeding up the process to relief the defendants of all charges.
He noted that the case that was initially adjourned till 24, January 2025 has been brought forward as the court is set to convene this week.
He said, “The police have submitted the case file, and the parties are working together. The court will reconvene early this week”.
The defense counsel for 119 defendants, Marshall Abubakar in a conversation with PUNCH was also positive that all charges will be dropped.
He noted, “The government has been calling; the AGF has called. I think, most likely, by next week (this week) we will get the charges thrown out”.
He noted that the minors were among the 119 remanded protesters in the custody of the SARS IRT.
According to him, they were all kept in a large hall together due to the fact that they are minors and the borstal facility required for juvenile detection was unavailable.
In his words, “the children were taken to IRT SARS. There is a big hall there where they are kept because there is actually no Borstal Centre”.
