The Department of State Services, DSS, has reportedly arrested Marxist activist and grassroots mobilizer, Comrade Kola Edokpayi, alongside five others, in Benin City, over a planned rally in support of Burkina Faso’s transitional leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
The solidarity event, aimed at promoting Pan-African unity and rejecting French neocolonialism in West Africa, was scheduled as part of a continent-wide movement involving similar rallies in countries like Ghana and South Africa.
Sources say Edokpayi had agreed to cancel the rally after meeting with the Edo State Commissioner of Police, but was still apprehended after DSS and police operatives raided his office. Of the six initially arrested, only Edokpayi and one other person remain in custody.
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Human rights groups and Pan-African activists have denounced the arrest, calling it a violation of constitutional rights. The Edo State chapter of the Take It Back Movement (TIB) demanded Edokpayi’s unconditional release, labeling the act “political repression.”
“His support for Captain Traoré does not violate any law. This is a suppression of freedom of thought and association,” said Comrade Hafiz Lawal, Edo Coordinator of the TIB.
Activists have compared the move to historical betrayals of African unity leaders like Muammar Gaddafi, warning that silencing voices like Edokpayi’s damages the spirit of Pan-Africanism.
As of press time, the DSS has not officially commented on the arrest or charges.
Crediblenewng.com
