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The odious spectacle orchestrated last Tuesday by President Bola Tinubu, parading the unlawfully detained #EndBadGovernance protesters, including 29 children, as “pardoned” recipients of his supposed compassion and personal magnanimity, reeks of hypocrisy and deliberate political exploitation, which is morally disgusting and deeply irresponsible. By falsely framing himself as a “compassionate” leader, Tinubu insults the intelligence of Nigerians who see through these theatrics. The sight of malnourished children paraded for a photo opportunity at State House is not compassion; it is political cruelty, aimed at distracting from the real grievances that the youth have been courageously voicing. This cheap publicity stunt demonstrates a callous disregard for justice and the legitimate rights of these youths, who suffered wrongful detention simply for speaking out against the government’s longstanding failures. Rather than rectifying the injustices and dehumanization of these children, the government’s hollow “forgiveness” of its own baseless charges is nothing short of Orwellian.

 

Instead of addressing the substance of their protests or even acknowledging the oppressive conditions that compelled them to raise their voices, vice-president Kashim Shettima, who presided at the event shamelessly treated the children as pawns to be leveraged, abusing their rights and using their very voices for political theater. Hear him: “The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, instructed the release of the suspects on humanitarian grounds, despite incontrovertible digital video and photographic evidence of the perpetration and actions some of which were uploaded by the actors themselves. Regarding this evidence, the President as the father of the nation is giving these young men another chance at becoming responsible citizens who will make a positive impact, in a drive for a better Nigeria…I will advise you, you are our children, to use the opportunity of the President’s magnanimous gesture in ensuring that you overcome and become responsible citizens who will contribute to the growth of the society.”

 

Also speaking at the event, Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State expressed gratitude to Tinubu for his compassionate decision regarding the release of protesters. “What happened today will be written in gold. The president has shown his compassion and humility. He has demonstrated that you (protesters) are also his children,” he said. Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, also admonished the protesters to make good use of the second chance that was given to them by Tinubu. Justice Obiora Egwatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja had earlier struck out the case against the protesters as requested by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), following Tinubu’s clemency. But unlike the macabre scenes when the children were arraigned and four of them collapsed, the government was so ashamed of its conduct, that it couldn’t take the children into the court room to withdraw the frivolous charges against them.

 

Huhuonline.com understands that most of these children are Almajiris – homeless children who were picked up from the streets of some northern cities and detained in Abuja. These children, some don’t even understand English, looked confused, ill and malnourished as they were called to take their pleas. In the process, four collapsed. Trending online videos painted a pathetic picture of Nigeria’s criminal justice system and how the weak and vulnerable are treated in Nigeria. In granting the defendants (who faced charges of treason, among other offenses) a bail of N10 million each, Justice Egwatu stated that each must secure two sureties in the same amount; one of them must be a civil servant at grade level 15 or higher, with a verifiable address within the court’s jurisdiction, while the other must be a parent of the defendant. These homeless children have basically grown up on the streets with no parents. So, such draconian bail conditions invariably meant returning to indefinite detention under dehumanizing conditions. Contrast this with the federal lawmaker who recently assaulted a Bolt driver and threatened to make him “disappear” yet was handed only a N500,000 bail.

The sight of minors paraded for a photo opportunity at the State House reveals a profoundly troubling tendency to exploit and manipulate social justice movements for political gain. These children were detained for three long months—an injustice in itself. Their crime? Daring to speak out against the bad governance, lack of accountability, and the erosion of basic human rights that too many Nigerians experience daily. When Tinubu uses the tragedy, pain, and suffering of Nigerian children as a platform to advance his narrow political agenda, it signals a complete disregard for the actual victims and underlines a dangerous hypocrisy in his administration’s stance on human rights and political dissent.

 

By arresting and holding minors alongside adult protesters, Nigerian authorities not only violated international standards on the treatment of minors in detention but also disregarded the rights afforded to these young people under Nigeria’s own laws. Instead of acknowledging this wrongful act, the administration has sought to cloak its oppressive measures in the guise of “compassionate leadership.” Where was this compassion during the three months when these children were torn from their families, kept in custody, and deprived of their liberty without due process? The so-called “pardon” of these children was no genuine act of reconciliation or justice. The choice to hold a ceremony and present the released protesters as a political achievement is blatant propaganda; a diversionary tactic designed to gloss over the real, structural problems the protests highlighted. The commendation of Tinubu as a “compassionate” leader, while disregarding the trauma inflicted on these children, is emblematic of a government out of touch with reality. Compassion is not achieved through public relations stunts; it is demonstrated by addressing grievances and reforming the systems that suppress them.

 

President Tinubu’s leadership has failed to address the foundational issues of mismanagement, corruption, and systemic failures that sparked the #EndBadGovernance movement in the first place. The #EndBadGovernance protests represents the frustration of a generation that feels abandoned by those in power, left to suffer under mismanagement and indifference. Yet, instead of acknowledging these legitimate grievances, the government appears more invested in silencing dissent and then claiming to “forgive” those who dare to speak out by using them as dispensable stage props in a PR stunt. 

 

Parading recently freed protesters as symbols of his “compassion” is nothing but an empty, cynical gesture. True progress demands systemic change, accountability, and a genuine commitment to the principles of democracy and justice. The youth of Nigeria deserve leaders who prioritize action over optics, justice over showmanship, and genuine progress over hollow promises. In the eyes of many Nigerians, this presidential “pardon” is far from a demonstration of leadership. It is a stark reminder of the lengths to which the current administration is willing to go to exploit the very citizens it should be working to uplift and protect. If Tinubu truly values Nigeria’s future, he must start by acknowledging the injustices that these young protesters endured at the hands of his administration and institute genuine reforms, not shallow, cynical PR gestures. The people of Nigeria demand, and deserve far better than a leader who manipulates weak, vulnerable and oppressed children to score political points, using their suffering as a stage for self-aggrandizement.