Date: 2012-01-25

Kwara State Coordinator, Child Protection Network, Miss Anthonia Oshiniwe, and Vice-Chairman, Committee for Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Taiwo Otitolaye, have threatened to sue the Kwara State Police Command for parading a 13-year-old simply known as Azeez. In telephone interviews with our correspondent on Tuesday, they said the police had abused the boy's fundamental human rights by parading him before journalists last week Tuesday. Azeez, Bolaji Matthew aged 17, and 12 other suspects were paraded for allegedly burning and looting the Mandate House, Olorunsogo, Adewole Estate, Ilorin, during the nationwide anti-fuel subsidy removal protests. Oshiniwe said her organisation had petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Peter Gana, the state Acting Chief Judge, Justice Sulyman Kawu, and the wife of the governor, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed. She added that her organisation wanted the police to write a letter of apology to the boy for parading and detaining him with adults. Oshiniwe said,"We wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police and the Acting Chief Judge of Kwara State. We work with the Child Right Law that was passed in the state. We also wrote to the wife of the governor. We have yet to get responses. "On Friday, we went to the state Criminal Investigation Department office and we were denied access to the boy. They said we could not see him then, we should come back and that they needed to get directives. It appears they are aware of people's concern about the boy. "We are demanding a written public apology from the police to the boy. We also intend taking the police to court. The boy needs a civil action because he is not supposed to be detained with the adults. "We also went to the command's office to see the commissioner of police on Friday, but he was not around. So, we dropped the letter. We were there again on Tuesday, but he was also not around. We have been expecting him to call us." The CDHR boss, Otitolaye, said the police should have taken the boy to a juvenile court rather than parade him before journalists. He said, "We have been meeting with the Nigerian Bar Association and also another organisation that works on children. The said organisation has also shown interest in the boy's case. "We are working to see what we could do about it. We will go to court because parading a minor is child abuse. "The right thing is to take him to a juvenile court and not to parade him with adults and lock him up with hardened criminals. That will further make the boy to become a nuisance to the society. What he needs now is reformation. The police have abused the boy's fundamental human rights and have violated the law of the land by parading a minor. We are strategising so that we could go to court."