A popular Edo state based activist, Marxist Kola Edokpayi is spending the third day in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) over a planned protest in solidarity with the leader of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore.
It was gathered that the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Monday Agbonika had held a meeting with Edokpayi on why the protest should not hold only for personnel of the DSS to storm and ransack his office and thereafter took him away alongside other people in the office.
While the whereabouts of Edokpayi and others remain unknown as it was not clear whether they were being held at the Benin or Abuja office of the DSA. Concerns are growing over their welfare, as theu have allegedly been denied access to food, water, and visitors since rheir arrest.
Edokpayi’s wife was reportedly turned away when she attempted to visit him, and there are fears that he may have been relocated to Abuja to face treason charges.
The Edo State chapter of the Take It Back Movement (TIB) issued a statement, demanding Edokpayi’s immediate and unconditional release.
“Comrade Edokpayi was arrested for expressing solidarity with the government of Burkina Faso led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. This blatant act of political repression is not only unlawful but a direct attack on the constitutional rights of Nigerian citizens.
In a statement made available to journalists, the Edo State Coordinator of the TIB, Comrade Hafiz Lawal, described the arrest as “legally indefensible and morally reprehensible,” accusing Nigerian security agencies of weaponising the state against dissenting voices.
“Freedom of thought, expression, and association are guaranteed under Sections 38, 39, and 40 of the 1999 Constitution. His show of support for Captain Ibrahim Traoré does not in any way justify his arrest,” the group insisted.
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