The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has condemned the arrest and arraignment of 52 persons, including students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, who were protesting incessant kidnapping in the State.
The party urged the Edo State government and the Nigerian Police to as a matter of urgency release the protesters.
The Publicity Secretary of the party, DAN Osa-Ogbegie, in a press statement he signed and made available to journalists in Benin on Monday said Governor Monday Okpebolo administration is
handling the issue of insecurity with a “combination of incompetence, indifference and authoritarian reflexes.”
The PDP stated that the arrest and continued detention of peaceful protesters, many of them students, exposed what it called the, “true character of the APC government in Edo State: brutal towards citizens, timid before criminals, and hostile to democratic expression.
“The party is unequivocally opposed to kidnapping and killings in all their forms and is demanding the immediate dismantling of criminal networks operating freely across Ekpoma and neighbouring communities.
It said the persistence of these crimes was a direct indictment of the APC government’s failure to govern.
“The PDP expressed full solidarity with the people of Ekpoma, particularly the students and residents who organised a peaceful protest against insecurity.
“A protest as lawful, courageous, and constitutionally protected, that only a government frightened by accountability would criminalize such civic action.”
The party demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all those arrested during and after the protest, reportedly numbering over 52 students, many from Ambrose Alli University, adding that their continued detention, was oppressive, unlawful, and a blatant abuse of power.
He warned that Edo State was fast acquiring a reputation for punishing victims while protecting perpetrators.
The statement further criticized the Okpebholo administration for dismantling or neglecting the command-and-control security framework inherited from the administration of Godwin Obaseki.
It said Edo State already had security structures in place and that what was missing under the APC was leadership, coordination, seriousness, and political will.
