The Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, has ordered the immediate release of an Abuja-based businesswoman, Mrs. Chineze Ozoadibe, who was wrongfully arrested by a sister security agency on the suspicion of her alleged involvement in illegal bunkering and transferred to DSS months back.
The DSS DG also awarded Mrs Ozoadibe N10 million as compensation and also directed that five other wrongfully arrested persons share N10 million as compensation.
Forefront News gathered from a dependable security source that the businesswoman was arrested in the course of busting an illegal oil bunkering syndicate.
The source said; “In the course of investigation, DSS officers discovered that the businesswoman’s arrest was coincidental and convinced, the DSS DG directed that she be released and duly compensated.
“You’ll realize that the release of wrongfully arrested and detained persons, and the award of compensation to them, have become the new culture of the DSS since Mr. Ajayi took over as DG.
“This is not an isolated case of setting free wrongfully detained persons. The DSS DG has done that several times. It is only a few that made it to the media. Remember the Jos-based businessman who was mistakenly shot by the DSS in 2016.
“It took eight years and the arrival of Mr. Ajayi as the DG of the DSS for the Service to agree to pay the N10 million a Federal High Court awarded the victim as damages. Not only did the new DSS DG paid the N10 million, he doubled it to N20 million, and added free medicare for life for the victim.
“As a thoroughbred professional, Mr. Ajayi has seen and experienced first-hand that even the best security agencies sometimes make mistakes.
“That is why, on assuming office, he told his personnel to be very painstaking in their operations and also admitted that, as humans, they are fallible.
“However, that when they make such mistakes, they should be man enough to admit it, and that is the reason he is releasing wrongfully detained persons and awarding them compensation,” the source enthused.
The source also said that in the bid to cut down on the mistakes, the DG of DSS has directed the legal department of the Service to ensure that due process is painstakingly followed in all cases being handled by the Agency.
According to the source; “Now, the standard procedure is that all Investigation Officers conduct proper investigations before carrying out any arrests”.
