Adejuwon Soyinka, a prominent investigative journalist and Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa, was taken into custody by the Department of State Services (DSS) at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Sunday.
A distress message sent to The PUNCH by a friend of Soyinka’s revealed that he was arrested shortly after arriving from the United Kingdom. The friend expressed concern that no reason was given for his arrest and that Soyinka had been held incommunicado.
The message read, “Adejuwon Soyinka has been detained by officers of the Department of State Security at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The incident happened around 5.40 am on Sunday, the 25th of August, 2024, shortly after he arrived in Nigeria via a Virgin Atlantic flight from the United Kingdom. As at the time of this report, no reason had been given for his detention by the security agency. Soyinka has not been reachable as messages and calls to his phone have been unanswered.”
When contacted, DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya denied knowledge of Soyinka’s arrest, saying, “I am not aware of the matter you have raised and have no comments on it.”
