Prominent Nigerian writer and public intellectual Prof. Okey Ndibe was detained by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) upon his arrival from the United States at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, activist and publisher Omoyele Sowore confirmed on Monday.
According to Sowore, the secret police told Ndibe that his arrival in Nigeria was “suspicious” and demanded that he reveal his destination and the identities of those he intended to visit — a demand critics are already calling a brazen violation of civil liberties.
Ndibe was eventually released, but only after the situation appeared to shift under the threat of public backlash. “When it became clear that his detention could trigger public outrage, the DSS reportedly changed its position,” Sowore wrote, adding that officials claimed the officer in charge of Ndibe’s “case file” had travelled out of the country and that they were attempting to reach her.
Sowore, a vocal opposition figure, described the incident as “yet another disturbing sign of the shrinking civic space under the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu regime,” citing a pattern of harassment targeting journalists, activists, and dissenting voices, and calling the use of state institutions to intimidate critics “intolerable.”
The detention of the award-winning author adds to a growing list of concerns raised by civil society groups and press freedom organisations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has previously raised alarms over the treatment of journalists in Nigeria in recent years. Activists have also pointed to a controversial judgment against the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) as evidence of mounting pressure on free expression.
“A government that fears criticism inevitably fears democracy itself,” Sowore wrote.
The DSS had not issued an official statement at the time of publication. Ndibe has not yet made a public statement on the incident. # Securitynewsalert.com
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