The Department of State Services (DSS) has released four men arrested over alleged membership in the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and approved ₦20 million in compensation after investigations cleared them of wrongdoing.
The DSS Director-General, Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, approved an initial payment of ₦5 million for each of the men, who were arrested in May 2022 in Sampou and Akeddei communities in Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State.
The beneficiaries are Emele Uduma Ibe, Berefgagha Appah, Ondokeyilemi Aggry and Oyeinmokebebeton Aggry.
Security sources said the men were misled into joining the group after some IPOB members allegedly promised them monthly payments of ₦100,000 under the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme.
The sources added that investigations established that the four men were unaware of the group’s activities, while those who allegedly recruited them are currently facing trial.
Counsel to the men, Deji Adeyanju & Partners, commended the DSS for balancing national security responsibilities with respect for human rights.
The law firm also praised the agency’s professionalism, describing its conduct as the best it had witnessed in more than 20 years of interacting with DSS personnel. It also expressed support for President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of Ajayi as the agency’s Director-General.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Ibe described his release as the happiest day of his life and thanked the DSS leadership for the intervention.
The compensation followed a review of more than 300 inherited terrorism-related cases ordered by Ajayi after he assumed office in 2024.
The DSS has reportedly reduced the number of detainees in its facility to about 100 and paid more than ₦1 billion in compensation to individuals cleared of wrongdoing or affected by its operations.
Other beneficiaries include a Jos-based businessman who received ₦20 million after DSS operatives mistakenly shot him in Plateau State.
Chineze Ozoadibe and Sunday Ifedi also received ₦10 million each after investigations cleared them of wrongdoing, while Kenneth Okechukwu Nwafor was paid ₦5 million after the agency absolved him of alleged links to IPOB.
A security source said the four newly released men would receive psychological and medical support, alongside assistance with their reintegration into society.
Ajayi recently acknowledged that the DSS could make mistakes but stressed the need to provide remedies whenever its operations caused harm.
He said, “Where we admit our mistakes, we offer compensation, and seek ways to improve operations in tandem with the rule of law.”
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