Outrage as Atiku, Akpoti-Uduaghan, others demand release of 52 AAU students

...  Edo govt, police insist suspects are rioters

Public outrage has continued to mount over the arrest and remand of 52 persons, said to include students of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, following protests against rising insecurity in the university town, as prominent political figures, student groups and rights advocates demand their immediate release.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have all condemned the arrests, describing them as an assault on democratic freedoms. However, the Edo State Government and the Police Command have maintained that those detained are not peaceful protesters but suspects involved in violent acts, vandalism and other criminal offences.

The arrests followed a protest on Saturday in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area, triggered by repeated kidnappings and the killing of a youth in the area. While the demonstration reportedly began peacefully, authorities say it was later hijacked by hoodlums who attacked traders at a livestock market, blocked roads with burning tyres and vandalised the palace of the Onojie of Ekpoma, Zaiki Anthony Abumere II.

In a statement posted on his verified X handle on Tuesday, Atiku strongly criticised the arrests, accusing the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu of intolerance and high-handedness.

“The level of intolerance and high-handedness of the Bola Tinubu administration is concerning,” Atiku said. “It is unacceptable that the response to students’ protest against insecurity in Ekpoma is to arrest and detain dozens of Ambrose Alli University students.”

He stressed that peaceful protest is constitutionally guaranteed and backed by judicial precedents.

“The right to protest is enshrined in the Constitution and validated by the courts. The primary responsibility of government is the security and welfare of the citizens,” he said, adding that if similar energy were deployed to tackling kidnappers and bandits, communities would be safer.

Atiku demanded the immediate release of all those he described as unjustly detained for exercising their civic rights.

Similarly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, condemned the arrests in a solidarity statement issued on Tuesday, describing them as a dangerous suppression of youth voices.

“Dialogue, not detention, is the pathway to peace and progress,” she said. “Our youths must not be criminalised for speaking up and protesting issues that affect their environment, welfare and future. We demand their immediate release.”

She urged the Edo State Government to focus on addressing kidnappings and worsening insecurity rather than silencing protesters, warning that arrests would only deepen mistrust between government and citizens.

The National Association of Nigerian Students also weighed in, describing the continued detention of the 52 persons as “ridiculous, unacceptable and deeply disturbing.”

In a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Ajasa, NANS said students exercising their constitutional right to peaceful protest should not be subjected to intimidation, harassment or psychological trauma.

Several Nigerians also took to social media to condemn the arrests, with many contrasting the swift prosecution of protesters with what they described as slow or ineffective action against kidnappers and corrupt officials.

However, the Edo State Government dismissed claims that the incident was a student protest or that AAU students were targeted. In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Patrick Ebojele, the government described the incident as a “coordinated riot” allegedly sponsored from abroad to destabilise the state.

The government said security agencies had identified suspected masterminds, with funds traced to Nigerians in the diaspora, and insisted that those arrested were intercepted while engaging in acts of violence or identified through video evidence.

“The suspects arrested are rioters, not peaceful protesters,” the statement said, adding that Ambrose Alli University was closed at the time and students had vacated hostels long before the incident.

The Edo State Police Command echoed this position, saying none of those arrested were peaceful protesters. In a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Eno Ikoedem, the command said 52 suspects were arrested for offences including vandalism, looting, assault, rioting and cruelty to animals.

According to the police, some of the suspects allegedly invaded the palace of the Onojie of Ekpoma, assaulting the monarch and his wife and destroying property.

“Contrary to claims circulating on social media, no peaceful protester was arrested,” the statement said. “Those arrested were involved in criminal acts that undermined public safety.”

The police said the suspects had been arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction, while reiterating their commitment to protecting lawful protests and maintaining zero tolerance for violence.

Meanwhile, the 52 suspects were remanded at the Ubiaja Correctional Centre by a Benin High Court over charges including malicious damage and armed robbery. The presiding judge, Justice William Aziegbemi, ruled that he lacked jurisdiction and directed defence counsel to approach the Ubiaja High Court for bail. The case was adjourned to February 26, 2026.

Some of the affected students have alleged that they were arrested in the early hours of the morning from their hostels and transported to Benin in a Black Maria for arraignment, claims the state government and police have denied.

In a video circulating on social media, Governor Okpebholo also suggested that those arrested may have links to the kidnapping incident that sparked the protests, insisting the crime was not carried out by Fulani bandits, as widely speculated.

“The people who carried out the kidnapping in Ekpoma masked their faces, which is not the traditional way of the Fulani,” he said. The next day, they staged a sentimental protest,”