Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has frowned at the recent arraignment of minors involved in the August #EndBadGovernance protests for treason.
OsunDailyNG recalls that the federal government had arrested and charged the minors before the Federal High Court in Abuja for hoisting Russian flags in some northern states during the protest.
After a series of backlash that trailed the arraignment, President Bola Tinubu’s government struck out the case before the court, citing humanitarian grounds.
However, Falana, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, argued that it is not an offence in Nigeria to hoist the flag of any country.
He explained that while some hotels hoist foreign flags, some big churches also display flags of Israel and other countries.
He said, “It is not a criminal offence in Nigeria to raise any country’s flag. If you don’t believe it, go out there. Any hotel hoists the flag of the United States, United Kingdom because they want to look international.
“Some churches in Nigeria, believing erroneously that Israel is a Christian country, hoist the flag of Israel. So it is not a criminal offence.”
The Human rights lawyer also stated that the inscriptions displayed by the protesters demanding the removal of the President were not tantamount to treason.
According to him, the government should have addressed the issues raised by the protesters during their nationwide demonstrations.
He added, “If a democratically elected government is asked to leave office, you might say they are expressing their views. The armed forces did very well by saying ‘We are going to involve ourselves in the removal of the President. We are loyal to the Constitution, we are loyal to the President.’
“It is the government now that is trying to remind people. Government should have ignored and then addressed the issues that led people to the streets.”
