A Benin High Court on Monday ordered the remand of 52 persons, including students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, over alleged malicious damage and armed robbery linked to a recent protest in the area.
The suspects were remanded at the Ubiaja Correctional Centre by the presiding judge, Justice William Aziegbemi, who said the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Justice Aziegbemi directed lawyers representing the defendants to file their bail applications at the Ubiaja High Court and adjourned the case to February 26, 2026, for further hearing.
The suspects were arraigned following an ex parte motion filed by police counsel, P. O. Odion.
As the accused persons were led into a Black Maria vehicle after the court session, some relatives broke down in tears.
One of the parents, Abdulsalam, said his two sons were wrongly arrested and did not take part in the protest.
“My children were not involved in any protest. They did nothing wrong,” he said.
Some defence lawyers faulted the charges brought against their clients, describing them as unfounded.
Wisdom Isaac, one of the counsel, said there were no direct complaints linking the suspects to the alleged crimes.
“These charges of malicious damage and armed robbery are bogus. Nobody has come forward to say these people robbed or damaged anything,” he said.
Another lawyer, Ejemi Etinbowei, said the protest was not organised by students but by relatives of a kidnap victim whose body was reportedly found in a bush last Friday.
“The students did not organise the protest. It was the family of a kidnap victim that protested after the victim was found dead,” he said.
Several of the students also denied involvement in the protest, claiming they were arrested in their hostels in the early hours of the morning.
One of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Most of us were arrested around 3am while we were sleeping in our hostels. I was not involved in the protest or any looting.”
Ekpoma has remained tense since Saturday after a peaceful protest over insecurity in the area turned violent.
Hoodlums were said to have hijacked the protest, attacked traders, set tyres on major roads and disrupted vehicular movement, actions which were captured in videos that later went viral.
The palace of the Onojie of Ekpoma, Zaiki Anthony Abumere II, was also attacked and vandalised during the unrest, an incident condemned by Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo.
It was gathered that the suspects were arrested from different locations within Ekpoma in the aftermath of the violence.
