Femi Falana, a distinguished human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has strongly criticized the growing trend of applying treason charges to protesters in Nigeria. Speaking at a two-day international conference on anti-corruption and climate change in Abuja on Tuesday, Falana condemned this practice.
The previous day, the Federal Government charged ten prominent figures from the #EndBadGovernance protests, which occurred from August 1 to 10, 2024. These individuals, including Michael Adaramoye (also known as Lenin), Adeyemi Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Simon, Angel Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Mosiu Sadiq, Bashir Bello, Nuradeen Khamis, and Abdulsalam Zubairu, faced a range of serious allegations such as treason, attempts to undermine national stability, intimidation of the President, and damage to government property in Kano. The defendants appeared before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court in Abuja and pleaded not guilty to the six-count charges brought by Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun.
Falana expressed profound concern over what he termed the “tribalisation” of treason charges, questioning the justification for such severe accusations against individuals merely exercising their right to protest. He revealed that he has been under significant pressure both domestically and internationally regarding this issue, with many questioning the rationale behind these charges.
Assuring the public that there is no cause for alarm, Falana confirmed that he has already started working on this case and plans to advise President Bola Tinubu to instruct the police to withdraw the charges. He emphasized that a treason charge is far more serious than theft, noting that this will be his fifth case defending against treason accusations. In previous cases, Falana successfully pressured the government to drop similar charges by turning the proceedings into a broader critique of the government’s actions.
Falana cautioned that the misuse of treason charges could have adverse consequences for the government, as history has shown.