FactCheck: There was no protest in Kano during minors’ arraignment in Abuja court

By Pascal Ibe

On 2nd November 2024, Nigerians expressed outrage over the arraignment of 76 suspects, including 32 minors, before Justice Obiora Egwuatu at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court for participating in the #EndBadGovernance protests in August.

Civil society groups and rights activists slammed the police and the government over the matter.

The defendants, who have been in detention for three months, were arrested in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja); as well as Kaduna, Gombe, Jos, Katsina, and Kano states.

They were arraigned by the Inspector General of Police on 10 counts bordering on treason, intent to destabilize Nigeria, and inciting to mutiny by calling on the military to take over the government from President Bola Tinubu, among others.

However, President Bola Tinubu directed the immediate release of all minors who were arrested over their alleged participation in August’s #EndBadGovernance protests a few days ago.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this to State House correspondents during an emergency briefing at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

Reacting over this, an X user, @Dr_dabo1 published a video on his X account and claimed that a fresh protest broke out in Kano over the arraignment of the minors.

He shared a video of youths protesting with a Russian flag and wrote, “BREAKING: youths seen waving Russian Flag 🇷🇺 in Kano amidst the #EndBadGovernanceProtest court saga.

The post which generated over 8k views, 69 reposts, and more than 300 likes, had a user asking if that was a current news report.

@Dr_dabo1, who made the claim, replied that it’s a fresh story.

Verification

When FACTWATCH contacted a journalist in Kano to verify this claim, Muhammad Bichi said there was no recent protest in the state.

Mr Bichi pointed out that the video being circulated by the X user was an old video of the protest that occurred in August.

Also, no credible report anywhere confirmed that a fresh protest broke out in Kano over the arraignment of the minors in Abuja court.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. The X user deliberately shared an old video of the August protest to mislead people.