DSS Blames Soyinka’ Arrest On ‘Mistaken Identity’, Releases Passport

The Department of State Services (DSS) has returned the seized passport of award-winning investigative journalist, Adejuwon Soyinka, following his arrest earlier this week at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Soyinka, who is the West Africa Regional Editor at The Conversation Africa, retrieved his passport on Friday after being accompanied to the DSS office in Ikoyi by Human Rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong.

Soyinka was initially detained by the DSS on Sunday while attempting to board a flight.

He was held and interrogated for about eight hours at both the DSS Airport Command and the agency’s Ikoyi office before being released, although his passport was withheld.

In a statement following his release, Soyinka revealed that the DSS did not present any formal allegations against him.

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He further disclosed that his name had been placed on the DSS watchlist at the request of an unnamed government agency.

However, on Friday, Effiong told Punch that Soyinka’s passport had been returned, and the DSS operatives attributed the arrest and detention to a case of mistaken identity.

“I went with Soyinka to retrieve his passport today. The secret police’s decision to blame the whole incident on possible mistaken identity did not come to me as a surprise,” Effiong said.