A civil rights advocacy group on the aegis of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described as worrisome the decision of the Edo state Police command on the orders of Governor Monday Okpebholo to sneak into the students hostels of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma and abducted them forcefully.
HURIWA noted that the students numbering about 52 were randomly arrested in their hostel on the โwrongful pretenceโ that they participated in the anti-kidnapping, anti-insecurity protest in Ekpoma, Edo state, stressing that there was no justification whatsoever for such an action under the Nigerian law.
It noted that the 52 students were remanded in a correctional facility after a midnight crackdown by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force on hostels across Ekpoma in the Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.
HURIWA in a statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko, national coordinator of the organisation, demanded of Governor Okpebholo to immediately free the prisoners of conscience.
The rights organisation particularly condemned the application of brute force and the adoption of the methodology used by Islamic terrorists and kidnappers by the Nigeria police, thus demanded their freedom without further delay.
HURIWA said; โAny attempt to detain these students longer than prescribed by the constitution which is 24 hours is unconstitutional, thus termed despicable and unjustโ.
This was as the Rights group described the storming of the hostels and arrest of the students as illegal and an act of state funded kidnappings in which 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.
HURIWA further condemned what it described as โoutrageous and atrociousโ conduct of the police, stressing that besides the refusal by the police to let journalists cover the kangaroo arraignment of the detained students in the court, was a grievous violation of section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution which recognises the media as the lawful vanguards of government activities.
HURIWA also said the flagrant violations of the constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy and the dignity of the students by the police which charged the students for robbery and wilful damage of public property are nebulous and trumped-up charges that can’t be lawfully sustained before the competent court of law.
The Rights group while condemning the police for attempting to frame up the students for robbery, asked when protest under the Nigerian constitution or any other known law become criminalised?
It also questioned why the same Nigeria police that is seeking to remand the students for two weeks while they have no substantial or any credible evidence to pin the detained students to the charges.
HURIWA stressed that the right to peaceful assembly is constitutionally guaranteed under chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stressing that since the students were picked up in their sleep, the detention by the police and the court by extension is unconstitutional.
In the words of HURIWA; โProtests Are An integral Part Of Democracy. These students are simply PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE and must be immediately released by the Chief executive of Edo state, Mr. Monday Okpebholo.
โInย 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.
โSpecifically, 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 persons.
โAdditionally, Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoplesโ Rights, which Nigeria ratified, reinforces the right to peaceful assembly. Despite these clear protections, Nigerian authorities repeatedly violate these provisions under the guise of maintaining public order,โ it stressed.
HURIWA therefore demanded the unconditional release of the scores of University undergraduates unlawfully abducted by Nigeria police in Ekpoma Edo state and arraigned in a kangaroo court.
