Kwara protest attack draws condemnation as PDP accuses the state government of leadership failure over the assault on women protesters in Ilorin
The Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration of a collapse of leadership following the violent attack on women protesters at the Kwara State Government House in Ilorin.
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The party said women and children who staged a peaceful protest over worsening insecurity in Ifelodun Local Government Area were brutally assaulted while seeking government intervention for the release of relatives allegedly kidnapped by bandits.
The protesters, mostly women from Oke Ode, Agbeku, Babanla, Adanla and surrounding communities, had converged on the Government House as a last resort after weeks of failed attempts to secure the release of their loved ones.
Videos circulating on social media showed women crying in Yoruba and narrating that their husbands and family members had been held hostage for weeks, with ransom demands reportedly running into tens of millions of naira.
In a statement signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Adewara, the PDP alleged that hoodlums armed with canes and other weapons attacked the protesters instead of government officials addressing their concerns.
The opposition party accused the assailants of beating, stripping and forcefully dispersing the women in full public view, describing the incident as both shocking and shameful.
The PDP further alleged that officers of the Nigeria Police Force watched the attack without intervening, calling the conduct a betrayal of public trust and a failure of constitutional responsibility.
The party called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to identify and prosecute officers who allegedly failed to act, as well as those who carried out the assault.
The PDP also urged President Bola Tinubu and international human rights bodies to investigate what it described as the state government’s failure to protect citizens from kidnapping and banditry.
In response, the Kwara State Government distanced itself from the incident and described the assault as unacceptable.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ordered the police to arrest those responsible, according to a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye.
Ajakaye said the governor was outraged by the incident and reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to democratic principles.
“Peaceful protest is a democratic right. The women are within their right to express their views. We distance ourselves from the incident as it does not represent our values as a government,” the statement said.
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The police had not issued any official statement on arrests or investigations at the time of filing this report.
