By John Ogunsemore
Popular human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has said that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) briefly detained him and seized his passport on Sunday.
The Publisher of Sahara Reporters said this in an X post, describing the seizure of his travel document as “reckless”.
Recall that online media reports claimed that Sowore was arrested and detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) upon his arrival to Nigeria on Sunday morning.
The purported DSS arrest was linked to the forthcoming October 1 nationwide protest. However, a top source in the DSS dissociated the secret police from Sowore’s ordeal.
The source said media reports linking the service to Sowore’s arrest were “erroneous”.
“See, what I can tell you is that the name of the man in question was on our watchlist before, but we had since removed it.
“Our new DG is determined to reform and reposition the Department of State Service (DSS) as a responsible and responsive organisation.
“In that case, I want to state categorically that our officers were not involved in his arrest, so, Nigerians should discard the fake news of the DSS’ involvement,” Daily Trust quoted the DSS official as saying.
In his post, Sowore confirmed that the NIS seized his passport and briefly detained him.
The former presidential candidate also shared a video showing him being welcomed by scores of his supporters at the airport.
He tagged the video, “LAGOS Airport arrival after the reckless seizure of my passport and brief detention by the @nigimmigration. #NoGoingBack”.
