Ekpoma: Insecurity, Protests, and Arrests 

Residents of Ekpoma, the headquarters of Esan West Local Government Area in Edo State, staged a protest on Saturday, January 10, over a surge in kidnappings in the community. In recent months, Ekpoma has reportedly witnessed repeated abductions, with residents taken directly from their homes, creating a pervasive atmosphere of fear and insecurity.

The protest, which initially began peacefully, quickly escalated. Commercial activities were disrupted, several shops were looted, and the palace of the Onojie of Ekpoma was vandalised. 

52 AAU Students Arrested and Remanded for Protesting

At the heart of the protest is growing frustration over what residents describe as unchecked kidnappings and a failure of the government to ensure safety. Ekpoma’s residents say the attacks have become frequent and brazen, with little reassurance that perpetrators are being deterred or apprehended.

Students of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, joined the demonstration, amplifying its scale and urgency. In the aftermath, security agencies moved in, and at least 52 people — the vast majority of them AAU students — were arrested and arraigned. The arrested students were subsequently remanded at the Ubiaja Correctional Centre.

For AAU students, the issue is both personal and existential. Many argue that they came to Ekpoma solely to pursue their education and should not have to live under the constant threat of abduction or contribute to raising ransom funds. Their participation reflects a broader sense of abandonment, where both town residents and students feel exposed to violence without adequate state protection. 

The situation has worsened as anger spilled over into destruction of property, shifting the protest from a security-focused grievance into a broader public order crisis. Authorities say that the protest was hijacked by vandals, who were responsible for the violence. 

How Have Authorities and Political Actors Responded?

State authorities and security agencies have responded by attempting to downplay claims of escalating insecurity. The Principal Security Officer to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Austin Eigbiremolen, assured residents that adequate security would be deployed to Ekpoma.

Similarly, the Edo State Police Command’s spokesperson, Eno Ikoedem, dismissed reports of worsening insecurity, stating that the Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, was already in Ekpoma. He also claimed that nine people abducted on Friday were rescued unhurt after the deployment of the Eagle Combat Drone Unit, in collaboration with local hunters.

Political reactions, however, have been sharply critical. The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the release of the 52 detained AAU students, describing their continued detention as oppressive, unlawful, and an abuse of power. According to the party, it is deeply troubling that students protesting kidnappings were suppressed and arrested en masse, while kidnappers themselves remain at large. The PDP argues that Ekpoma has been effectively abandoned to violent criminals, leaving residents to live in fear as attacks escalate unchecked.

What the events in Ekpoma ultimately lay bare is not just a breakdown in security, but a collapse of accountability across Nigeria’s governing institutions. 

The executive has failed in its most basic responsibility to protect lives, leaving residents and students exposed to the threat of kidnapping. The legislature has remained largely absent, offering neither urgency nor oversight in the face of a crisis that has become disturbingly routine. 

Most troubling, however, is the role of the judiciary. The arrest of protesting students is unconscionable, and the decision to remand them in prison on seemingly frivolous charges points to a deep and entrenched rot within the justice system. When young people are jailed for demanding safety while kidnappers roam free, the justice system is reduced to a crude joke. Protest has ceased to be a constitutional right and has become a punishable offence. Nigeria may continue to describe itself as a democracy, but episodes like this make clear how hollow that claim increasingly feels.