{"id":167260,"date":"2025-06-17T15:55:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T14:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T16:04:39","slug":"benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters","title":{"rendered":"Benue Crisis Speaker Orders Release of Arrested Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has ordered the immediate release of all youths arrested during recent protests across the state.<\/p>\n<p>The directive was issued on Tuesday during an emergency plenary session convened in response to mounting public criticism over the detention of citizens who participated in demonstrations against the ongoing insecurity in parts of the state.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the floor of the Assembly, Speaker Dajoh reaffirmed the legislature\u2019s commitment to democratic principles and the constitutional rights of all Benue citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeaceful protest is a constitutional right,\u201d he declared. \u201cNo one should be punished for exercising their voice in a democratic society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Speaker\u2019s pronouncement was met with applause from fellow lawmakers and hailed by civil rights advocates as a bold stance in defence of civil liberties.<\/p>\n<p>Dajoh further called on security agencies to respect the rights of peaceful demonstrators and ensure that future engagements with the public are carried out with professionalism and restraint.<\/p>\n<p>The Assembly pledged to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrests and to engage relevant authorities to prevent a recurrence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has ordered the immediate release of all youths arrested during recent protests across the state. The directive was issued on Tuesday during an emergency plenary session convened in response to mounting public criticism over the detention of citizens who participated in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":167259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[12132,1578,254],"class_list":["post-167260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-benue-crisis","tag-breaking","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Benue Crisis Speaker Orders Release of Arrested Protesters - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has ordered the immediate release of all youths arreste ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benue Crisis Speaker Orders Release of Arrested Protesters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, has ordered the immediate release of all youths arreste ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T14:55:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T16:04:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1750163726.314395.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Benue Crisis Speaker Orders Release of Arrested Protesters\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-17T14:55:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T16:04:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\"},\"wordCount\":201,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1750163726.314395.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benue crisis\",\"breaking\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/benue-crisis-speaker-orders-release-of-arrested-protesters\",\"name\":\"Benue Crisis Speaker Orders Release of Arrested Protesters - 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