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Minor Protesters Arraigned For Treason In Nigeria
Nov 2, 2024
EndBadGovernance Protest, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
View Video Transcript
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now uh those that are not criminally
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liable under the law those are the
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people are young ones below the age of
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seven once you are more than seven you
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can be chared to court the only thing is
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that you need to follow certain
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procedures to do that but none of them
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is less than seven I think the youngest
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should be 13 the fact that you 13 year
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old doesn't mean you cannot be Ted to
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court so anybody even the child children
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and Young act they can still charge you
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to court because you are 13 year old you
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can go to court so they we have charged
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them to court for this on behalf of the
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federal government of Nigeria the police
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has taken the bll by the horn because
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these are those who actually are
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leveraged on the end bad governance
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protest they jacked the protest and they
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areum violence the people that are
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flying in Russian flags are many foreign
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foreign flag
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which of course you know is a punishable
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offense so they are liable we have not
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charged any underage in our own context
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here the court for those who have been
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following trends of Engagement with
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social media influencers and content
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creators you know we have been engaging
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them for time and even this department
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has made more than three or four
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statements concerning that to condemn
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unlawful authoriz use of police uniform
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or cment not only the police you can't
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use any law enforcement uniform the
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military the police can't use their
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uniform to
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act this boys that we brought to the
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court
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today all of them are
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adults most of them are married
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men none of them is a
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minor some of them are University
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graduates the small small kids you
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seeing
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here they came with some of their
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parents to come and greet their loved
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ones they are not even the suspect
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standing trial in this
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case these boys were
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arrested in kaduna and
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Zara imagine the level we find ourself
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now do do you know how much it ca us to
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be at this level of a democracy in this
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country these young boys are trying to
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destabilize Nigeria using the Russian
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flags and other countries calling on the
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military to remove our president is it
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fair to even remove the state Governors
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that they don't want democracy again if
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you don't like democracy are we forcing
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you you go back home and
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sit everybody is enjoying their
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fundamental rights nobody is abusing
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their rights everybody is enjoying free
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movement and everything things are
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moving fine in the country this boys
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only for no
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reason they started protest violent
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protest with a Flags foreign Flags
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Russian Flags H about is that what we
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want in this
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country don't mind the defense Council
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they will always say something to Tanish
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the neighbor of Nigerian police it's not
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true I in my own case we fight charge
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against 43 defendants and all of them
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were produced to they call today all of
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them are
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adult forget about what they are telling
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you that they are small children this
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and that ask the defense council do they
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truly know the suspect they
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defending while we were in court this
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morning and shortly before The Plea of
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the
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defendants mainly under a children could
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be
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taken some of them who were looking qu
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malnourished who are looking quite very
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sick started sing in court before The
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Honorable justice
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uatu justice uatu of seeing the fting of
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these young persons of school age had to
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adjin proceed had to stand out
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proceedings
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abruptly we had to rush some of these
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young children to
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the uh the clinic within the facility of
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the court for them to be resuscitated
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some of them are still receiving
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treatment as I speak to you in the
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clinic this young persons has been
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arrested since the second day of August
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2024 over 3 months they've been left
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without clothing without housing without
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proper care they are looking very
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malnourished as you can see the videos
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that are flying around social media Tak
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only they were kept at the KU
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Correctional Center Police and at the
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IRT the
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notorious
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atat now this is the facility that has
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held our young children school that are
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been kept by this government over
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allegations of attempting to overthrow
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the presidents the question now comes to
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how can a 12 13 14 year old boy who is
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looking very frail and Manish attempt to
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overthrow the president that is the
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matter for another day but we have find
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an
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application contesting and challenging
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the powers of the courts to try these
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young persons and this objection is
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founded on very solid foundation the
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constitution of Nigeria in section
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18 vest on the government the
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responsibility of educating young
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persons the universal basic education
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acts and the children a young persons
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act vest upon the government the duty to
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educate its younger ones section two of
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the ubec ACT mandate the government to
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provide education for its young persons
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free compulsory education for all young
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persons
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unfortunately young Nigerians have been
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arraigned in court today on the 10 count
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charge of an attempt to overthrow and
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overow the government of Nigeria the
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have granted
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Bill we will strive hard to meet the
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bill conditions if we can the conditions
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are quite neck breaking it is like
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giving bill with the right hand and
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taking with the left hand we will strive
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and make do our best to perfect these
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conditions but if we cannot meet the
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Bild conditions we will come back to the
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court and seek for a variation because
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we have shown that these are young
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persons who are hungry the essence of
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the protest of August second is to end
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Hunger in the land and we saw them in
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cour today looking quite malnourished
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the problem persists but we will come
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back why should
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small why should why should they spend
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93 days in police custody when they
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should be in school and the government
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The Government Can AR The Government Can
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arrest 10 12 13 year old and keep them
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in custody for 93 days but the
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government the government has not been
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able to arest the 6 months after is
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it not a parody of some sort that we
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have two separate country one country
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for the rich one country for the poor
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our laws are very clear it's 48 48 Hours
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the police the police are in breach of
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the fundamental rights of these children
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so we are not going to delve into the
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substance of the issue which is already
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before the court so that we will not
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make remarks that sub Jud this but what
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we are saying very
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simple 6 months later has not been
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arrested but you arrest our children you
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keep them in custody for 93 days these
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children they they already looking like
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they have they are malnourished you
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understand then you cannot keep them in
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custody for this long this is the
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reasons why our our rating in the human
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rights index is poor is bad you
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understand the T government should
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discontinue the chge we make a
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passionate appeal to the
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agf you know Bab
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that he should discontinue the chge he
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should take over the matter and
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discontinue against these children so
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that the children so that the children
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can return back to school and the
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Attorney General of the Federation has
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the inherent powers to take over this
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matter under Section 174 of the
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Constitution that Baba should take over
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this matter and discontinue the charge
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against the children I I cried in open
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court because of this grave Injustice
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has been done to these kids only
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