DSS Arrests Journalist Few Months After Release From Detention

A few months after his release from detention, Bayelsa State-based journalist and publisher, Jones Abiri, has been abducted again.

He was abducted on Saturday by men suspected to be from the Department of State Services at Ayabowei Plaza in Yenagoa.

Report says the men stormed the venue in a white Toyota Hilux and a black SUV while Abiri was discussing with his colleagues at the secretariat of the Bayelsa publishers office.

An eyewitness said, “The armed men jumped out of the Hilux threatening to shoot Abiri if he moved. They forced him into the vehicle. Then they zoomed off while the jeep closely followed behind. Their guns were similar to those of the secret service.”

Another witness said, “The men jumped out of the vehicles in a Gestapo-style while he was chatting with his friends and shouted ‘you are under arrest.’ While he demanded to his offence, he was forcefully pushed into a waiting vehicle at gunpoint.’’

The whereabouts of Abiri, who is a local newspaper publisher, is currently unknown. In 2016, DSS operatives arrested Abiri, alleging that he was a militant. It also said Abiri was the leader of the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, which threatened to pull out from Nigeria in 2016.

He regained freedom in 2018 after an intense campaign from several local and international groups. Confirming the incident, his younger brother, Lucky, said he received a phone call that armed security men had taken his brother away. He said that he heard that the armed men drove away in two vehicles.