Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, has begun proceedings to withdraw the charges against the 76 minors who were arraigned before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Hours after the arraignment, the AGF expressed his desire to take over the case from the Inspector General of Police in a statement issued late Friday night.
He mentioned that his office would like to review certain issues.
“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.
According to a source from the Federal Ministry of Justice confirmed to our correspondent that the IG had already sent the case file to the AGF as requested, and that efforts were ongoing to quickly drop the charges against the defendants.
According to the source, the court will reconvene early this week rather than on the adjourned date of January 24, 2025.
“The police have submitted the case file, and the parties are working together. The court will reconvene early this week,” the source said.
In addition, Marshall Abubakar, the defence attorney for all 119 defendants, confirmed to our correspondent over the phone that efforts were being taken to drop the charges against the youngsters this week, particularly since the AGF had ordered that the case file be transferred.
“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,” Abubakar said.
He further stated that the juveniles among the 119 remanded demonstrators were in the custody of the SARS IRT and that they were held in a big hall because the alleged Borstal system for juvenile confinement did not exist.
“The children were taken to IRT SARS. There is a big hall there where they are kept because there is actually no Borstal Centre.”
