By Samuel Timothy
The Department of State Services (DSS) has returned the passport of Adejuwon Soyinka, the award-winning investigative journalist, following a brief detention. Soyinka, who serves as the West Africa Regional Editor at The Conversation Africa, reclaimed his passport on Friday at the DSS office in Ikoyi, Lagos, accompanied by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong.
Soyinka was initially arrested on Sunday at Murtala Muhammed International Airport and subsequently held and interrogated for approximately eight hours at both the DSS Airport Command and the Ikoyi office. Although he was released, his passport was withheld.
Upon his release, Soyinka stated that the DSS did not file any charges against him and that his name had been added to the service’s watchlist at the request of an unspecified government agency.
Effiong confirmed on Friday that the DSS operatives attributed Soyinka’s arrest and detention to a possible case of mistaken identity. “I accompanied Soyinka to retrieve his passport today. The DSS’s explanation that the incident may have been due to mistaken identity did not surprise me,” Effiong said.
