PDP Condemns Police Attack on Peacefully Protesting Kwara Polytechnic Students
...Warns Abdulrahman against Criminalizing Peaceful protest from Citizens*
The Kwara State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the reported use of live ammunition and tear gas by men of the Nigerian Police Force against peacefully protesting students of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, on Tuesday.
According to the party, reports it received from various eyewitness accounts indicate that students were legitimately expressing their grievances over the ill-conceived decision of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led administration to convert their academic environment into a makeshift camp for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members relocated from Yikpata, without due planning, consultation, or consideration for the academic future and welfare of the students.
The party in a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara, said it is unacceptable that students who took to peaceful protest; an action guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were met with force, intimidation, and violence by police officers acting on the direcrive of Governor .
"This Kwara Polytechnic development indicates a growing and dangerous pattern under the Abdulrahman-led government, where peaceful protesters are routinely intimidated, harassed, or violently dispersed.
"Kwarans will recall the shameful incident involving elderly women from Ifelodun Local Government who peacefully protested at Government House over the prolonged abduction of their relatives, only to be brutally attacked by government-sponsored thugs while police officers stood by and watched.
"That painful episode remains fresh in public memory and underscores a troubling disregard for citizens’ rights and human dignity. Under no circumstance should unarmed students protesting the disruption of their education be treated as criminals or enemies of the state.
"The PDP notes that the current crisis is a direct consequence of poor planning, lack of foresight, and failure of leadership on the part of the government. Rather than provide a properly prepared alternative arrangement for the relocated corps members, the government opted for the most reckless approach.
"Turning a functioning academic institution into a dumping ground for NYSC, displacing students who had already paid for accommodation and were in the middle of an academic calendar, with examinations imminent, is irresponsible and insensitive.
"Our party finds it unacceptable that instead of engaging the students constructively and resolving the matter through dialogue, the government resorted, once again, to coercion and brute force, shooting unharmed protesting students with live ammunition and teargass.
"The Kwara PDP therefore demands immediate, transparent investigation into the conduct of the police officers and all actors involved in the suppression of the protest and call for unreserved public apology from the Kwara state government to the students of Kwara State Polytechnic.
"We also call on the state government to urgently provide a humane, well-planned alternative for accommodating NYSC corps members without disrupting academic activities in the institution.
"Finally, we warn the Governor Abdulrahman-led administration against the dangerous practice of criminalising civil protests through the use of party thugs and security agents to harass, intimidate, or silence lawful and peaceful protesters."
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