The Department of State Services has freed four men held since May 2022 over alleged membership of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and approved N20 million in compensation for them.
Each man is to receive N5 million after investigators cleared them, sources in the DSS said. The agency has not published a statement. The men’s lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, was present at their release and commended the DSS for upholding human rights.
The release is part of a review of more than 300 inherited terrorism cases ordered by DSS Director-General Oluwatosin Ajayi when he took office in 2024. The sources said the review has cut the number of people held by the agency to about 100.
The four were arrested in Sampou and Akeddei communities in the Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama local government areas of Bayelsa State. One source said they had been led to believe they would each get N100,000 a month under the federal government’s Amnesty Programme, “not knowing that they were being lured by a group of IPOB members who are now facing trial”.
Emele Uduma Ibe, who spoke for the four, called it the happiest day of his life.
The sources said the DSS has paid more than N1 billion in compensation since the review began. Earlier payments include N20 million to a Jos businessman shot by mistake by its officers in Plateau State, and N10 million each to Chineze Ozoadibe and Sunday Ifedi. In June the agency freed Nura Idris and paid him N3 million after a review cleared him of links to Boko Haram.
“Where we admit our mistakes, we offer compensation, and seek ways to improve operations in tandem with the rule of law,” Ajayi said in a recent interview.
The sources said the N20 million is an initial payment and that the four will also get psychological and medical support. The DSS has not said when the money will be paid.
Sources: Punch; Daily Trust; Vanguard
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