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A group under the aegis of Edo Civil Society Organizations, EDOCSO, has given a 7-day ultimatum to the Edo State Government and the State’s Commissioner of Police to release the remanded 52 anti-kidnapping protesters from the Correctional Centre.
The Secretary General of the organisation, Leftist Godspower Okumbor, made the call in a statement to newsmen on Tuesday in Benin City.
EDOCSO also charged the government and security agencies to immediately swing into action and arrest kidnappers, terrorists, killers, and those fleecing the state’s financial resources through the collection of ransoms.
“We are calling on the Edo state government and the Nigeria Police to, as a matter of urgency, release the 52 Edo students that are currently held in Ubiaja correctional facility, while the police must go after the kidnappers terrorising Ekpoma and bring them before the law.
“The people of Ekpoma and other parts of the state who have been guaranteed the security of their lives and properties during the last electioneering campaign must not suffer or be dehumanised for the security ineptitude of the government.
“Mr Governor should rather channel his energy into more resources to invest adequately in the state security architecture for the protection of lives and property of citizens, instead of these ‘kindergarten’ policing systems of using the commissioner of police to harass innocent but ever active citizens of Edo that he promised to protect.
“The concern of the Edo government should not only be about infrastructural developments but more about the respect and protection of the lives and property of citizens,” he said.
Okumbor expressed displeasure over the mass arrest and arraignment of 52 students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, over the protest on unabated kidnapping activities around the university community.
While noting that protest is a guaranteed and constitutional means of self-expression, Okumbor opined that it must not be criminalised by government and law enforcement agencies.
He noted that protest is also a means by which citizens express their displeasure over any situation in a bid to call to the attention of the relevant government or its agencies, as well as part of the ingredients of democracy.
“Protests must be carried out in a manner devoid of destruction of public properties and other criminal activities. It is a known fact that, in war, there are inevitable casualties.
“These outcomes can be mitigated through a process of de-escalation and addressing the remote cause of action”, he added.
The EDOCSO scribe posited that it was a known fact that failure and inaction of the government to protect the lives and property of citizens, as kidnappers held sway in Ekpoma town, led to the protest and every other thing that followed.
He, however, charged the government at all levels to be responsive and uphold the purpose for which it exists.
The group berated the Edo State Police Command for failing to arrest a single kidnapper even after the protest, but instead they hurriedly deployed men and resources in going after students alleged to have committed malicious damage and theft during the protest and arraigned 52 of them in court.
The CSOs, which asserted that Edo people deserve responsive policing, alleged that it has become a pattern for police in the state to indulge in mass arrests that never result in convictions of suspects.
“This is a distraction at its best as a similar pattern was observed during the state government fight against cultism. Edo State security architecture is due for an overhaul,” he added.
AAU students: CSO gives Gov Okpebholo, police 7-day ultimatum to release 52 remanded protesters
