Officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Monday morning arrested and questioned but later released US-based author and columnist, Professor Okey Ndibe, on his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Upon his release, the celebrated author fired back at the nation and the DSS, saying “I told the SSS that it’s a shame a country that rolls out the red carpet for criminals would harass a writer who wages war on corruption and the corrupt.”
He was said to have been arrested upon arrival in Nigeria because his name was on the watchlist, a security list usually containing names of persons claimed to be security risk to the nation or critical of the government.
Professor Ndibe is a popular name in the Nigeria media famed for his lucid and usually punchy criticism of governments. He is not however new to arrests and harassments by Nigerian government security agents.
He was a well-known critic of Muhammadu Buhari government for its ineptitude and has been critical of other governments in this 4th Republic.
He rebuffed entreaties by security agents to go to Abuja to get his name removed from the watchlist.
Ndibe, who had taught in several institutions abroad, had been arrested by the secret police on a number of occasions in the past. Once, his passport was seized and was only released after a public outcry led by civil society organizations across the country.
