Journalist Tony Ezimakor Illegally Detained By SSS

Nigerian journalist, Tony Ezimakor, has been detained by the State Security Service, SSS.

According to The Independent, Ezimakor was “invited and detained on Wednesday, February 28, at the DSS headquarters in Abuja at about 10.3 0a.m. and has been kept under detention since then.”

According to reports he has also been denied his medication. As at the time of this report, there has been no public statement by the SSS stating reasons for his arrest.

A full statement was given by the Independent two days after Ezimakor was arrested and it read;

Day 2: DSS Detains Tony Ezimakor, Daily INDEPENDENT’s Abuja Bureau Chief

For the second day running, authorities of the Department of State Services (DSS) have detained Tony Ezimakor, INDEPENDENT Newspapers’ Abuja Bureau Chief. He was invited and detained on Wednesday, February 28, at the DSS headquarters in Abuja at about 10.30 a.m. and has been kept under detention since then.

Upon honouring the invitation on Wednesday, he was shunted from one office to the other and was asked to wait for a particular officer who was said to have been away from his office.

INDEPENDENT management had made frantic efforts through its lawyer, Douglas Ekhator, since Wednesday to see the detained Ezimakor but with little result.

As at today, the INDEPENDENT management had received no news about Mr. Ezimakor, though the lawyer, Mr. Ekhator, returned to the DSS office on Thursday morning. One thing is certain, Mr. Ezimakor was not given his medication though the lawyer took it to him late Wednesday.

We hereby alert the world to this real and present danger that Mr. Ezimakor is a high blood pressure patient and apart from taking his drugs, needs to see his doctors at very short notice.

The implication is very clear; any outfit holding him for days is endangering his life. We reiterate that Mr. Ezimakor’s wife said the husband left home on Wednesday without medication and did not eat any food before leaving home Wednesday morning.

She lamented that her husband’s health must be in grave danger, especially as DSS operatives have denied him access to his prescribed drugs.

INDEPENDENT, therefore, is asking for its Abuja Bureau Chief’s immediate and unconditional release, otherwise his life is in serious danger.

Right now the Nigerian Union of Journalists has called for his release.