FRESH: DSS DG Releases Suspected IPOB Member Detained Since 2022
Barely one month after he ordered the release and compensation of an Abuja-based businesswoman, Mrs. Chineze Ozoadibe, the Director General of the Department of State Security Services (DSS), Mr. Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, has again, ordered the release of one Kenneth Okechukwu Nwafor, arrested in July 2022 over alleged involvement in the activities of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
Nwafor, who hails from Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia state, was not only set free, but awarded N5 million as compensation and free medicare for the wrongful arrest by the DG, DSS.
Reliable security source revealed that detailed investigation conducted by personnel of the Secret service exonerated Nwafor.
The source further said that the release and compensation are in line with the Director General’s directive that all the cases he inherited be reviewed to ensure due process and prompt dispensation of justice.
According to the source; “The DG directed his investigation officers to conduct detailed review of all pending cases and they have been dutifully doing that. Nwafor’s case is one of such cases.
“The gesture which is one of the several by the DG, is a testament to his resolve to comply with the rule of law and
adherence to the service standard operating procedure.
“Three Abia men, Udemba, Onyedikachi and Eze, suspected of belongings to IPOB, were equally released.
“The DG-DSS, Mr Ajayi acknowledges that as humans, we sometimes make mistakes. He also believes that when such mistakes are made, the right thing is to make amends.
“That is why he has established a culture of accountability and humanly makes efforts to remedy the mistakes of the Agency,” the source explained.
It further said; “If you will remember, he paid N20 million as compensation to one Jos-based businessman who was erroneously shot on the leg in the course of a security operation in 2016.
“Even when the court awarded N10 million in damages against the DSS, the agency refused to pay until Ajayi became DG. He doubled the money.
“Nwafor isn’t the first Igbo to be released and compensated under similar circumstances. Some months ago, the DG ordered the release of three young men wrongfully detained for belonging to IPOB.
“Last month, he paid N10 million as compensation to the Abuja-based Igbo businesswoman arrested by a sister security agency for alleged illegal oil bunkering. Mr. Ajayi, the DSS DG, added N10 million for five others to share.
“This has become the trend Mr Ajayi assumed the leadership of the DSS,” the source enthused.
