BREAKING: Court frees #EndBadGovernance protesters, strikes out treason suit

The Justice Obiora Egwuatu-led Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out the suit against 119 protesters charged for treason.

The protesters of #EndBadGovernance who are predominantly minors have been detained for the past three months after their arrest.

The Judge struck out their case and freed them following an application by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who was represented by M.D Abubakar on Tuesday.

Earlier, the AGF through his Counsel applied for the take over of the suit and after it was granted by the presiding Judge, he thereafter filed an application to discontinue the case.

During the court session, Abubakar invoked Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, which grants the AGF the authority to take over and discontinue any criminal proceedings initiated by other bodies, including the Inspector General of Police.

After Justice Egwuatu’s request was granted, the AGF requested that the 119 accused persons’ trials be halted under the same section of the Constitution.

Justice Egwuatu granted the request and dismissed the charges after no objections were raised by the accused’s lawyers.

The accused persons were not present in court, but the judge ordered their immediate release from prison.