Vice-President Kashim Shettima has implored the 119 released minors to strive to be responsible citizens as they unite with their families in Kano and Kaduna States.
Shettima made the call while handing over the 119 released minors to Governors Abba Yusuf of Kano and Uba Sani of Kaduna, at the auditorium of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
The vice-president handed over 73 released suspected minors to Yusuf of Kano and 39 to Sani.
Additional three minors from Kano were earlier released and they are currently with their parents, while additional four minors from Kaduna were also released earlier.
Shettima described the event as solemn which called for sober reflection and ”for us to look inwards and find solutions to our challenges”.
”The President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, instructed the release of the suspects on humanitarian grounds.
”Despite compelling and incontrovertible digital video and photographic evidence of the perpetrators in action, some of which were uploaded by the actors themselves.
”Regarding this evidence, the president is the father of the nation to give these young men another chance at becoming responsible citizens who will make a positive impact, in a drive for a better Nigeria.”
The vice-president admonished the minors not to allow themselves to be used to perpetrate violence and destroy public and private property.
According to him, over N300 billion was lost in the protests, consisting mainly of private property and loss of business.
He said, ” I will urge you, 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”.
Shettima also urged their Governors and elected representatives across political divides to ensure that the children were rehabilitated and reintegrated to the fabric of their communities.
He thanked Tinubu for proving to the world that he was a father of the nation.
” We want to thank the President on behalf of our governors, on behalf of our members of the National Assembly for his magnanimity in granting pardon to these young children.
” Not that they were exonerated from their crime but it is out of his own magnanimity. Most of the instigators of the crime and their children were not involved,” he said.
Shettima also appreciated the governors of Kano and Kaduna for rushing down from their states to take custody of the children.
On his part, Yusuf assured that under his watch, protests that could lead to the destruction of private and public properties would never happen again.
He extended the appreciation of the Kano State Government and the good people of the state to Tinubu for seeing to the freedom of the minor children.
” What the President did will continue to be in our mind. The President has shown his compassion. He has shown his humility.
” I want to assure Mr President that by the grace of Allah, that kind of protest will never ever happen in Kano so long as we are in leadership,” he said.
Also, Sani assured that the children would be enrolled in school and training on various skills acquisitions.
He said: ”We thank the President for granting pardon to our children. Of course we know they are children of everyone.
”Looking at their age and what they went through, I have no doubt in my mind that a lot of people must be happy for the fact that today, they are free”.
Also, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, said the ministry has profiled and examined all of them medically and they were fit to be reunited with their parents.
