A civil rights organisation, Citizens’ Gavel, has warned against what it described as the growing criminalisation of student protests in Nigeria, following the arrest and subsequent release of 52 students of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State.

The group said the circumstances surrounding their arrest raise serious constitutional and human rights concerns that must not be ignored.

The students were arrested after a protest by residents and students of Ekpoma against persistent kidnappings, killings and other security threats within and around the university community.

While the protest was later marred by violence, including the looting of shops and the vandalism of the palace of the Onojie of Ekpoma, the group insisted that the response of security agencies amounted to collective punishment.

In a statement signed by its Senior Legal Analyst, Sylvester Agih, the organisation said many of the students were not arrested during the protest or at the scene of the alleged vandalism, but were picked up from their hostels in the early hours of the morning, with some reportedly arrested around 3 a.m.

According to the group, the students were not arrested during the protest or at the scene of the alleged vandalism but were instead picked up from their hostels in the early hours of the morning, with some reportedly arrested around 3 a.m.

The organisation noted that some of the arrested students did not even participate in the protest, stressing that mere suspicion of civil unrest could not justify such mass arrests.

The group said: “It is a clear injustice that students calling for an end to robbery, kidnapping, and banditry at their university community were not arrested at the protest or at the scene of alleged vandalism, but instead taken from their hostels at night like hardened criminals.

“It is especially concerning that some of those arrested did not even join the protest. Let us be clear that this suspicion of civil unrest cannot excuse such an unjust process. It has become telling how security forces suddenly become hyper-vigilant when suppressing dissent.

“That the Nigeria Police Force would undertake such an offensive against unarmed students while banditry and theft have flourished in the university vicinity for months, with no significant arrests made, is a gross misplacement of proactiveness”.

The organisation reminded the Edo state Government that protests remain a lawful exercise guaranteed by Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

It also cited Section 35(2) of the Constitution, which guarantees that any arrested person must be promptly informed of the reasons for their arrest and allowed access to legal counsel.

“Reports indicating that these students were denied these fundamental rights render this entire mass arrest exercise a breach of the principles of fairness and legality, and therefore, unjust.

“While we acknowledge the gravity of reports regarding the vandalism that ensued as a result of the protest hijack, we remain wary of the recurring ‘hijacked protest’ narrative often deployed to justify state-sponsored repression.

“The court, therefore, must remember its role as the hope of the common man, protecting the sanctity of citizens’ constitutional freedoms rather than playing into the interests of the powers that be.

“Citizens’ Gavel unequivocally stands for justice, democracy, and accountability. We will not look the other way while bona fide citizens are met with brutish force for lending their voices to systemic issues, or while legitimate dissent is criminalised and our youth are treated like the very bandits the state has failed to capture”, the group said.