Four Detainees Regain Freedom After Four Years In DSS Custody

A Nigerian human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has introduced the discharge of 4 detainees who had allegedly spent greater than 4 years in custody following months of sustained engagements with the Department of State Services (DSS).

Adeyanju disclosed that his agency secured the discharge of the detainees after participating the key police over their extended detention.

THE WHISTLER additionally gathered that the 4 males have been launched after the DSS cleared them of alleged membership of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The launched detainees are: Emele Uduma Ibe, Berefgagha Appah, Ondokeyilemi Aggry and Oyeinmokebebeton Aggry.

They have been reportedly arrested in May 2022 in Sampou and Akeddei communities in Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State.

The 4 detainees have been reportedly paid N5 million every as compensation following their launch.

In an announcement he issued in Abuja on Wednesday, Adeyanju recommended the DSS Director-General for what he described as a dedication to reviewing circumstances of extended detention and contemplating his agency’s request for acceptable compensation for affected detainees.

He additionally disclosed that his agency was pursuing a number of related circumstances involving people who had remained in detention for prolonged intervals with out decision, significantly these held at Wawa Barracks in Minna, Niger State.

“After months of sustained engagements with the Department of State Services (DSS), our Firm has successfully secured the release of four detainees who had been in custody for over four years,” he mentioned.

The DSS reportedly launched a compensation coverage for suspects wrongfully detained a couple of yr in the past.

In August, the company launched Mustapha Marwana, a Katsina-born carpenter arrested over alleged hyperlinks to the Ansaru terrorist group, and paid him N3 million in compensation.

Similarly, in June, the DSS freed Nura Idris after an inner evaluation cleared him of alleged hyperlinks to Boko Haram insurgents. He was additionally paid N3 million to assist him restart his life.

In November 2025, the company launched Kenneth Nwafor, who had been accused of membership in IPOB, and reportedly paid him N5 million in compensation.

In one other case, the DSS launched Chineze Ozoadibe, an Abuja-based businesswoman, in October 2025 after she was arrested by one other safety company over suspected involvement in unlawful bunkering and subsequently transferred to the DSS. She acquired N10 million in compensation.

The growth comes amid recurring issues by human rights organisations over extended detention, alleged arbitrary arrests and the therapy of suspects by Nigerian safety businesses.

Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, ensures the proper to non-public liberty and supplies safeguards in opposition to illegal detention, together with necessities governing the interval inside which arrested individuals have to be introduced earlier than a court docket.