We Saw Hell In Prison; No Food, Treated Like Hardened Criminals- Minor Protesters Reveal

There are more revelations on the recently released minors who allegedly took part in the August #endbadgovernance protests in the country.

The magazine reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, ordered the release of over 100 minors after the backlash that trailed their arraignment in court last week.

The trial gained global attention after four teenage protesters collapsed in a federal high court in Abuja, where they were being tried for taking part in the last hunger protest in August this year.

Recall that many Nigerians were arrested by the security agencies for allegedly taking part in the nationwide protest, to press home their demands on the federal government to do something about the economic situation in the country.

Some of them, minors were arraigned in Abuja, the nation’s capital last week thus sparking global outrage against the government, which later ordered their release.

They were later handed over to their various state governors, who have promised to rehabilitate them and reunite them with their families.

Following their release, the protesters have started narrating their experience in the police cells where they were detained for over 90 days before they were brought to court last week

According to The Punch, the protesters were treated shabbily while in police custody, including denying them food for several days.

Those who spoke to the newspaper at the Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital, where they are being checked and treated by a team of medical personnel, said they were starved for many days by the government officials.

“We saw hell; we suffered a lot,” one of the minors, Umar Ali, 15, said. “We sometimes stayed for three days without food. And even when we were given food, it was always not enough.”

Ali denied involvement in the protest saying he was arrested on his way to the market at Kwana Hudu in Ungoggo Local Government Area of the state, where he usually does menial jobs to sustain himself.

He added that they were kept in the dark while under custody, which he said affected some of them when they went for trial.

“We hardly saw sunlight in the place where we were kept, hence the reason why some of us could not see very well when we were brought to the court,” he said.

Another minor, Ibrahim Aliyu Musa, who was transferred from Kano to Abuja a day after his arrest, said he and others were kept in the same place with hardened criminals.

“I was among those that were kept in the same place with hardened criminals and we sometimes spent a number of days without food.

“The food was nothing to write home about, they were inadequate and tasteless. They served us beans in the morning, rice at lunch time and Gabza for dinner. Gabza is normally prepared for inmates due to their large number. So, we had to eat Gabza so as to keep body and soul moving,” Musa added.

Also narrating his ordeal, a 13-year-old boy, who said he was arrested at Gadon Kaya in Gwale Local Government Area, said he was accused of flying the Russian flag, which he denied doing.

“I was arrested on the August 15 and moved to Abuja the following day. We were kept at Abattoir SARS in Abuja. We were kept with hardened criminals for the number of days we were there,” he said.

Also, one of the released minors, Hassan Mohammed, a graduate of Economics from the Kampala University, described his experience in Kuje Prison as “not good at all”.

Mohammed said, “I was arrested on August 5 along Ahmadu Bello Way here in Kaduna. When they took us to the State Criminal Investigation Department, they asked why we were protesting and we explained.

“They took our statements and from there they took us to Abuja FCID, where we spent 18 days before they took us to Kuje Prison.

On how they were feeding while at the Kuje Prison, he added, “Honestly, it was terribly bad, not good at all. They gave us small portions of  garri and beans. It was a bad experience being in that place.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Police has denied maltreating the protesters.

“We never maltreated or dehumanised the suspects. That’s not true. In fact, they were not kept with hardened criminals at all. There are many wrong narratives out there to undermine the credibility of the police,” Muyiwa Adejobi, the Froce spokesman said.

After meeting with the freed protesters in Aso Rcok, Presidential Villa on Tuesday, Vice President Kashim Shettima said President Tinubu released them purely on compassionate ground, and not because the president was pressured to do so.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered their release on humanitarian grounds, giving them another chance to become responsible citizens,” Shettima said in a statement by his media aide  , Stanley Nkwocha.