By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN CITY – OVER one week after the anti-kidnapping protests in Ekpoma, Edo State that went violent, leading to the arrest of many, a group, Edo State Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights, yesterday, called for the unconditional release of Collins Aigbogun, the former Special Adviser to Governor Monday Okpebholo from police custody.
Aigbogun was reportedly arrested as one of the masterminds of the protests, he was sacked and replaced by the governor last week but has remained in police custody.
A statement by the Coordinator General and Secretary General of the group, Marxist Edokpayi and Aghatise Raphael also cautioned the police from arresting people without due recourse to Nigeria’s constitutional provisions.
The statement said the governor claimed the protest was sponsored by a Russian based individual and wondered why Aigbogun would remain in custody.
“According to Section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended, a person shall not be convicted of any offence unless the offence is defined and the penalty is therefore prescribed in a written law.
“Till date, the police have not been able to obviously furnish and adduce evidence linking him with the protest.
“The continued detention of Mr. Aigbogun, predicated solely on alleged sponsorship of a protest, is not only antithetical to constitutional safeguards but risks engendering perceptions of political persecution.”
, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions and democratic governance.
“It is profoundly disconcerting that while criminal networks operate with apparent impunity, citizens exercising their constitutional rights are subjected to detention and intimidation. This raises a salient question: should security agencies expend their energies in suppressing lawful civic engagement, or in dismantling the criminal apparatuses imperiling innocent lives?
“The coalition wishes to use this medium to appeal to Governor Okpebholo to order the immediate and unconditional release of Aigbogun from police detention in the interest of justice and equity as the saying goes “it is better a hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer.
“The Nigerian Police Force should operate in strict conformity with constitutional mandates, judicial precedent, and the principles of justice. Authorities are urged to align themselves with the populace in confronting insecurity, rather than penalising an innocent man.”
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