The Department of State Services (DSS) on Sunday released Adejuwon Soyinka, the Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa and an investigative journalist, after detaining him for several hours at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos upon his return from the United Kingdom.
According to a distress message from a friend of Soyinka, he was intercepted by DSS operatives shortly after his arrival, with no reason provided for his arrest. Soyinka was reportedly held incommunicado during the detention.
“Adejuwon Soyinka has been detained by officers of the Department of State Security at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The incident happened around 5.40 am on Sunday, the 25th of August, 2024, shortly after he arrived in Nigeria via a Virgin Atlantic flight from the United Kingdom.
“As of the time of this report, no reason had been given for his detention by the security agency. Soyinka has not been reachable as messages and calls to his phone have been unanswered,” the friend noted in the message.
When reached for comment, DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya stated that he was not aware of Soyinka’s arrest.
He said, “I am not aware of the matter you have raised and have no comments on it”.
However, in a subsequent message, Soyinka’s friend confirmed that he had been released.
“He has been released. He was released at 1 pm. They held onto his passport. He was released from their (DSS) Ikoyi office.”
Soyinka said the DSS did not confront him with any allegations.
He said, “They’ve not told me what they held me for. There was no tangible thing all through; they were just asking different questions, random questions, but they didn’t tell me exactly what they held me for.
“But what they said was that they were not the ones who wanted me. They said it was another government agency that told them to put me on their watch list. But they did mention the name of that agency.
“They tried to reach that agency all day, but they couldn’t. They released me on personal recognition. And they told me they would still communicate with the agency to confirm if they are still interested in following up on the matter. They said if they are not interested they will return my passport. The whole thing was traumatising for me.”
