DSS Detains Edo Activist Kola Edokpayi and Five Others Over Planned Rally for Burkina Faso’s Leader, Ibrahim Traoré

By Achimi muktar

Benin City, Nigeria – In what many are calling a chilling echo of authoritarian repression, Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has come under fire for arresting outspoken Edo-based activist, Comrade Kola Edokpayi, and five others over a planned solidarity rally in support of Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

The arrest, which unfolded on Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Benin City, has ignited a storm of backlash across civil society groups, human rights circles, and pan-Africanist networks throughout the continent. The rally, now controversially aborted, was intended as part of a continental day of action against neo-colonial influence in West Africa—particularly France’s lingering grip on its former colonies.

Edokpayi, a fiery Marxist and head of the Talakawa Parliament, had planned the event to coincide with similar movements in Ghana and South Africa. But despite canceling the rally after a stern warning from the Edo State Commissioner of Police, his decision to stand down wasn’t enough to deter security forces from raiding his office.

According to an insider who spoke to SaharaReporters, DSS and police operatives stormed Edokpayi’s base, forcibly entered the premises, and whisked away six individuals. While four were later released, Edokpayi and one colleague remained in custody without clear charges.

“He called off the rally after meeting with the police,” the source emphasized. “But they still came for him. It’s like they were determined to make an example of him.”

Critics say that’s precisely the point.

The Edo chapter of the Take It Back Movement (TIB) wasted no time in issuing a scathing statement demanding Edokpayi’s “immediate and unconditional release,” denouncing the arrest as an “attack on free speech and the right to dissent.”

“Comrade Edokpayi’s only offense was showing solidarity with a fellow African leader standing up to foreign exploitation,” said TIB Coordinator, Comrade Hafiz Lawal. “This is a shameful abuse of power. It’s a direct assault on the constitutional freedoms of Nigerians.”

Pan-African voices echoed the condemnation online, with one activist writing: “Arresting Marxist Kola Edokpayi for a solidarity walk is totally uncalled for. Pan-Africanism should be celebrated, not criminalized. I remember Gaddafi—another true African patriot—betrayed by powers that feared his dream. Kola has done nothing wrong. He must be released.”

As the outcry grows louder, questions remain: Why target an activist who had already complied with authorities? Is pan-African solidarity now a punishable offense in Nigeria?

With Edokpayi still behind bars, civil liberties groups are warning that this may be more than an isolated case—it could be the start of a wider crackdown on dissent in the name of national security.

And for many, that’s a frightening sign of things to come.