On August 25, 2024, at about 5.40 AM, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested and detained Mr. Adejuwon Soyinka, the West African Regional Editor of The Conversation Africa, a platform that seeks to drive conversations aimed at identifying and discussing critical socio-economic and political issues in Africa, after he arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from the United Kingdom. He was thereafter driven from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos to the DSS headquarters annex in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Mr. Soyinka who was the pioneer editor of the BBC Pidgin Service was unreachable and the DSS did not give reasons for his detention. Messages and calls to his phone were unanswered.
The DSS spokesperson, Peter Ifunnaya, disclosed that the agency “intercepted” the editor based on a request from another government agency.
He was later released but his international passport was not returned to him.
