Nigerian arrested and detained for tweets on attempted jailbreak

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Onimisi Isiaka Yusuf
Onimisi Isiaka Yusuf, arrested by SSS

A 32-year old Nigerian, Onimisi Isiaka Yusuf, using the twitter handle @ciaxon has been arrested in Abuja by the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency, for tweeting and posting picture on twitter on 30 March 2014, about the attempted jailbreak by some detainees suspected to be members of Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group.

Media reports say Yusuf, an employee of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) attached to the Presidential Villa substation was arrested in his office by SSS operatives on 30 March, a few hours after a gun battle between suspected Boko Haram members and Nigeria’s security agents.

Yusuf posted six pictures on his Twitter handle that showed how SSS agents and soldiers battled to regain control of the secret service’s headquarters, located behind the Presidential Villa, from the Boko Haram detainees.

Yusuf’s younger brother, Sanusi, said he last heard from his brother on 30 March, adding that Yusu’s telephone had since been switched off.

Sanusi further revealed that Yusuf’s close associate who led the search for his whereabouts, was informed by a senior management staff of the AEDC at the Asokoro substation that Yusuf had been arrested by the SSS.