Nigeria' secret Police, Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday, 31st December 2019 disclosed that Abubakar Idris, a social media influencer popularly known as Dadiyata, is not in its custody.
Dadiyata, a critic of the Government, went missing in the month of August 2019.
The report has it that, he was abducted by armed men while driving into his residence in Kaduna town of Kaduna State.
After his disappearance, speculations arose accusing the secret Police of arresting him but in a statement on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, Peter Afunanya, PhD, the DSS spokesman explained that the agency knows nothing about Dadiyiata’s whereabout.
Afunanya also distanced the Agency from the trial of Abba Jalingo, a journalist in Cross River state.
The Agency informed its position in a statement which partly reads as “The attention of the Department of State Services (DSS) has been drawn to serial allegations by sections of the media that the Service is illegally detaining some Nigerians.
Of specific mention were Abubakar IDRIS (a.k.a. Dadiyata) and Agba JALINGO said to have been arrested in Kaduna and Cross River states respectively by the Service,” the statement read.
It further stated that “These allegations, to say the least, are spurious and can only be taken for what they are – deliberate and subversive campaigns of calumny to undermine the Service and cast it in bad light before the public.
That IDRIS was taken away from his house by some armed men does not suggest that those men were DSS staff.
Also, the statement continuous “For the sake of emphasis, the Service has no reasons to deny its arrest and detention of suspects if actually, it carried out operations during which such persons were arrested".
More so “It is not out of place for security and law enforcement agencies to arrest and detain lawbreakers or those suspected to be.
The arrest and detention of suspects are procedural and undergo continuous review.
In certain conditions, some are routinely questioned and released while others are granted administrative bail,” he said.
“Some who are still under investigation or already undergoing prosecution are held on the basis of court orders.
Suspect handling is a critical aspect of the Service’s responsibility and this is taken seriously without any form of compromise.
“It diligently carries out this function in strict compliance with the criminal justice administration system and intelligence governance procedures absolutely necessary for consolidating democratic ideals in Nigeria.
It is, however, important to state that suspects in the Service’s detention are not ‘routinely tortured’.
“It wishes to categorically state that it will, henceforth, not condone acts of misrepresentation and falsehood against it and in this regard, will explore legal options to seek redress.”