The protest was aimed at drawing attention to worsening security conditions around the university community and demanding urgent government intervention.
The Edo State Government in collaboration with the management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, has been accused of orchestrating the secret arrest and continued detention of former Student Union Government (SUG) leaders in connection with a recent protest against rising insecurity in Ekpoma, Edo State.
Those reportedly in custody include Lifted Oyinbo, former Secretary-General of the Ambrose Alli University Student Union; Igoh Christopher Ayanor, former Senate President; and Andrew Oghenovo, former Financial Secretary of the SUG and currently the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Drug Abuse to the Edo State Government.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the former student leaders were quietly arrested by operatives of the Ekpoma Police Division before being transferred to the Edo State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where they have allegedly remained for “over one week without formal charges, access to legal representation, or visits from family members.”
The arrests are reportedly linked to a “peaceful protest” organised in Ekpoma following the kidnapping of a student and the killing of another by suspected kidnappers.
The protest was aimed at drawing attention to worsening security conditions around the university community and demanding urgent government intervention.
The demonstration initially led to the arrest of more than 42 students, a development that triggered widespread outrage and condemnation from student bodies, civil society organisations, and concerned residents of Ekpoma. After sustained public pressure, the Edo State Government ordered the release of the detained students.
However, sources allege that shortly after the release of the 42 students, security agencies began targeting individuals believed to have coordinated the protest, resulting in the arrest of the former SUG leaders.
Before the release of the detained students, Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo had met with the management of Ambrose Alli University, where he disclosed that intelligence available to the government suggested the unrest was allegedly orchestrated by a group known as the “Ambrose Alli Comrade Community.”
The governor further claimed that the group allegedly consists of individuals who are no longer students of the institution but regularly frequent the campus and engage in unlawful activities.
Meanwhile, families, colleagues, and human rights advocates have raised serious concerns over the fate of the detained former student leaders, noting that their whereabouts remain unclear and that they have allegedly been denied access to visitors since their transfer from the Ekpoma Police Division.