Even as no fewer than 52 students of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, have been remanded in a correctional facility following a midnight crackdown by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force on hostels across Ekpoma in the Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Governor Monday Okpebholo has been urged to immediately free these prisoners of conscience.
Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) which made the demand in a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko said the decision of the Edo state Police command on the orders of the governor Monday Okpebholo to sneak into the hallowed hostels of the University students to abduct them forcefully under the wrongful pretence that they participated in the anti-kidnapping, anti-insecurity protest in Ekpoma Edo state does not have any justification under the Nigerian law.
HURIWA condemns the application of brute force and the adoption of the same terrorist methodology used by Islamic terrorists and kidnappers by the police and demanded their freedom without further waste of their time. “Any attempt to detain these students longer than prescribed by the constitution which is 24 hours is unconstitutional and is thus termed despicable and unjust.
The Rights group described as illegal and an act of state funded kidnappings, the storming of the hostels whereby the students were arrested in the late hours of the night and subsequently charged to court for participating in a protest held last Saturday against rising cases of kidnapping and worsening insecurity in the state.
Students who spoke to the media said the arrests were carried out in a coordinated operation, with police officers storming different hostels around Ekpoma in the middle of the night and picking up students indiscriminately.
According to accounts by some of the affected students, those arrested were not apprehended at the protest venue but were picked up from where they resided.
They described the operation as a midnight raid that caused panic among students and residents of the university town. HURIWA condemns this outrageous and atrocious conduct of the police. Besides, the refusal by the police to let journalists cover the kangaroo arraignment of the detained students in the court, is a grievous violation of section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution which recognises the media as the lawful vanguards of government activities.
โThey came to our hostels at night and started arresting students,โ one of the students informed the media from the court premises.
โMany of those arrested were sleeping in their rooms and were not even on the streets when the protest took place.โ
On Monday, the arrested students were arraigned before a court in Edo State, where the police filed an application seeking their remand in custody.
The students who were present in court stated that the police are seeking an order to remand the 52 students for a period of 14 days.
Speaking against what they called the flagrant violations of the constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy and the dignity of their persons by the police, the Rights group said the charges of robbery and willful damage of public property are nebulous and mere trumped up charges that can’t be lawfully sustained before the competent court of law.
The Rights group condemned the decision to remand the students for two weeks which is absolutely unconstitutional and illegal. “Why is the police detaining the students when the same police operatives have no substantial or indeed any credible evidence to pin the detained students to the charges. “HURIWA condemns the police for attempting to frame up these students for robbery. Assuming without conceding that the detained students participated in the protest, when has protest under the constitution or any known laws be criminalised?
HURIWA stressed that the Right to peaceful assembly is constitutionally guaranteed under chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and since these students were picked up in their sleep and according to their claims never participated in the protest, why is the police and the court by extension detaining these students unconstitutionally? These students are simply PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE and must be immediately released by the Chief executive of Edo state Mr. Monday Okpebholo.
Protests Are An integral Part Of Democracy*
HURIWA argued persuasively that in every functioning democracy, the right to protest is sacrosanct just as it is an essential component of civic life that allows citizens to express grievances, demand accountability, and influence change. This universal right is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution in chapter 4.
HURIWA therefore lamented that yet the experiences of Nigerian protesters just like the unlawfully detained students, paint a bleak picture. When citizens lawfully engage in peaceful demonstrations, Nigerian security agenciesโparticularly the policeโtoo often respond with brute force, intimidation, and unlawful arrests. This troubling trend, says law scholars quoted by HURIWA, stands in stark contrast to how similar protests have been handled in other democracies like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, among others.
Specifically, section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) guarantees the right of every citizen to โassemble freely and associate with other personsโ. Additionally, Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoplesโ Rights, which Nigeria has ratified, reinforces the right to peaceful assembly. Despite these clear protections, Nigerian authorities repeatedly violate these provisions under the guise of โmaintaining public order.โ
HURIWA recalled that the EndSARS movement of 2020 is a typical example. Thousands of Nigerian youths and citizens of all strata, took to the streets to demand an end to police brutality, particularly by the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and better remuneration for the police, among other public interest demands. The response was not dialogue or reform, but tear gas, baton charges, and, tragically, live ammunitionโculminating in the Lekki
Besides, toll Gate shooting on October 20, 2020, where security forces reportedly fired upon peaceful protesters. To this day, no high-ranking official has been held accountable. Although the government denied that any protesters died, the controversy surrounding that incident remains fresh in the minds of the public. HURIWA is therefore demanding the unconditional release of the scores of University undergraduates unlawfully abducted by Nigeria police Force (NPF) in Ekpoma Edo state and arraigned in a kangaroo court. The Edo state governor should do the needful or else we call on president Bola Tinubu to order the IGP to free the unlawfully captured students in Edo state and apologise profusely for this illegal and arbitrary arrests and detention.
*COMRADE EMMANUEL NNADOZIE ONWUBIKO,
NATIONAL COORDINATOR,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). TUESDAY, January 13th 2026.