Adejuwon Soyinka, the Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa and an investigative journalist, has been released following his arrest by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Soyinka was detained on Sunday, shortly after arriving in Nigeria from the United Kingdom on a Virgin Atlantic flight. According to a distress message sent to The PUNCH by a friend of Soyinka, he was arrested at approximately 5:40 am, and no reason was given for his detention.
The message also stated that Soyinka had been held incommunicado since his arrest, with all attempts to reach him via phone proving unsuccessful.
The DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, when contacted, stated that he was not aware of Soyinka’s arrest and therefore had no comment on the situation.
In a subsequent update, the same friend reported that Soyinka had been released by the DSS from their Ikoyi office. However, it was also revealed that the DSS had confiscated Soyinka’s passport upon his release.
“He has been released, but they held onto his passport,” the friend told our correspondent.
No official statement has been provided by the DSS regarding the reasons for Soyinka’s arrest or the seizure of his passport.
