A retired officer of the State Safety Provider (SSS, sometimes called DDS), Nwaogu Ezeakolam, has apologised to the company’s director-general for taking an inner dispute public.
His apology got here months after he accused SSS operatives of detaining him after he complained concerning the alleged mismanagement of welfare finances belonging to an affiliation of retired officials.
His apology got here months after alleging that he used to be tortured and detained for 21 days following a petition that accused him of being an Indigenous Other folks of Biafra (IPOB) commander. The previous officer alleged that the management of the Affiliation of Retired Division of State Products and services Officials of Nigeria (ARODSSON) in Abuja orchestrated the petition after he complained concerning the alleged mismanagement of welfare finances belonging to an affiliation of retired officials.
Mr Ezeakolam has additionally threatened to sue SaharaReporters, which published his allegations in July, tough a retraction of claims he now considers misguided.
In a letter dated 22 September, Mr Ezeakolam appealed to the SSS Director-Common, Oluwatosin Ajayi, to forgive him for taking the topic to the general public, describing his determination as a “severe error in judgment.”
The cases surrounding the apology and the following criminal danger carry questions concerning the dealing with of the dispute. Alternatively, the to be had paperwork don’t identify that Mr Ezeakolam used to be forced to apologise or that the separate movements have been hooked up.
“I write this letter with deep feel sorry about and humility, to apologise for my determination to escalate and put up an inner topic on a web based media house,” he wrote within the letter to Mr Ajayi, announcing he has realized a “painful and essential lesson from this incident.”
Mr Ezeakolam stated he had no longer supposed to hurt Mr Ajayi or disclose him to “criminal difficulties,” including that he now recognised that inner issues have been delicate and will have to no longer had been made public.
“I humbly and sincerely apologise for the hurt and embarrassment that my movements will have brought about you and your respected administrative center,” he added, pledging his allegiance to the Nigerian executive.
Mr Ezeakolam, who retired from the provider in April 2010, appealed to the director-general to forgive him and get to the bottom of the topic internally.
“I plead with you, sir, to mood justice with mercy and get to the bottom of the topic internally,” he wrote.
The letter didn’t specify the effects Mr Ezeakolam confronted over the disclosure or whether or not the SSS had initiated any inner disciplinary court cases in opposition to him.
The backstory
In a SaharaReporters tale printed on 29 July, Mr Ezeakolam used to be quoted as alleging that his dispute with the affiliation’s management escalated after he demanded transparency and duty within the control of finances intended for retired officials.
He stated he served as secretary of the affiliation’s welfare committee and ready a document and memorandum dated 13 December 2025, urging the management to distribute welfare finances in step with the affiliation’s charter.
He accused the FCT bankruptcy chairman, retired officer James Maha, of economic impropriety, together with the alleged mismanagement of greater than N72 million belonging to the affiliation.
He additionally alleged {that a} per thirty days welfare grant of N1 million authorized by way of the SSS director-general for retired officials were diverted from its supposed objective.
The allegations have no longer been independently established.
In line with Mr Ezeakolam, the dispute took a extra severe flip after the affiliation’s management allegedly petitioned the SSS in opposition to him.
He stated the petition, dated 4 March, used to be ready by way of Mr Maha and signed by way of Daniel Okoliko, the affiliation’s FCT bankruptcy public family members officer.
Mr Ezeakolam alleged that the petition described him as an “IPOB and unknown gunmen commander” in Abuja, accused him of being a faux retired SSS officer and alleged that he used to be making plans to bomb the SSS headquarters with improvised explosive gadgets (IEDs)
He maintained that the accusations have been false and stated the petition used to be answerable for his arrest and next detention.
Neither the affiliation’s management nor the SSS’s reaction to those particular allegations used to be contained within the document.
It stays unclear whether or not he withdrew the substantive allegations regarding the welfare finances or his alleged remedy in detention. His apology, as contained within the to be had letter, centered at the determination to publicise an inner topic.
‘Arrested at SSS headquarters’
In line with the SaharaReporters tale, Mr Ezeakolam stated he used to be arrested on 7 April whilst visiting the SSS nationwide headquarters in Abuja to publish intelligence experiences on safety problems affecting Nigeria’s South-east area.
In line with his account, he used to be throughout the administrative center advanced of the assistant director-general of operations at about 12:30 p.m. when officials apprehended him.
He stated he used to be arrested, tortured and detained by way of officials and males of the Nigerian Hunter and Woodland Safety Provider (NHFSS) who knowledgeable him that they have been appearing strictly at the directives and orders of the DG SSS (DSS), Mr Ajayi.
He stated he used to be later taken prior to an assistant director of safety investigations recognized as Dayo however used to be no longer knowledgeable of the allegations in opposition to him regardless of repeated requests.
Mr Ezeakolam additionally alleged that, all through his detention, an investigating officer threatened to chain his neck, palms and legs and feature officials beat him after he insisted that he will have to be proven the petition in opposition to him prior to creating a observation.
Those allegations have no longer been independently verified.
Arraigned after 21 days in custody
On 27 April 2026, after what he described as 21 days in SSS custody, Mr Ezeakolam stated he used to be arraigned prior to a Leader Justice of the Peace’s Court docket in Wuse Zone 6, Abuja.
He stated he confronted a one-count rate of allegedly inciting the general public and spreading hatred in opposition to the government, the SSS director-general and President Bola Tinubu at the affiliation’s WhatsApp platform.
He pleaded no longer accountable.
In line with his account, the courtroom granted him bail within the sum of N200,000, with two civil servants on Grade Stage 10 as sureties, however he remained in custody at Keffi jail till the bail stipulations have been met.
He additional alleged that after he returned to SSS headquarters on 29 April to retrieve his assets, a few of his private pieces, together with prescription glasses, two cell phones and copies of intelligence experiences, have been lacking.
The main points of the magistrates’ courtroom court cases have been reported by way of SaharaReporters in keeping with his account.
Separate IPOB-related prosecution
The retired officer’s criminal troubles persisted after the magistrates’ courtroom case.
On 6 August, the SSS arraigned him prior to the Federal Top Court docket in Abuja on 4 counts involving alleged club of IPOB, offering toughen to the proscribed organisation and the use of social media to advance its purpose.
He pleaded no longer accountable to the costs. The courtroom ordered that he be remanded at Kuje Correctional Centre pending his bail utility and stuck 29 October for the graduation of trial.
The to be had data does no longer identify whether or not the federal prosecution is attached to the affiliation’s petition or whether or not both case caused his next apology.
Attorney calls for retraction
In a separate letter dated 16 October, Mr Ezeakolam’s legal professional, Edmund Ben, major spouse of Lawminds Pals, demanded that SaharaReporters put up his shopper’s reaction to its document and retract any misguided or unsubstantiated claims.
The legal professional accused the newsletter of denigrating the administrative center of the SSS director-general and ARODSSON.
“We write to specific our profound worry in regards to the newsletter made by way of your on-line newsletter on twenty ninth June 2026, in which the exalted administrative center of the Director Common of the Division of State Products and services (DSS) and ARODSSON have been denigrated,” the letter said.
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Alternatively, the SaharaReporters tale relating to Mr Ezeakolam’s allegations used to be printed on 29 July 2026, no longer 29 June as said within the legal professional’s letter.
Mr Ben demanded that the newsletter raise his shopper’s legit reaction and right kind or retract statements discovered to be factually misguided, deceptive or unsupported by way of proof.
He gave the hole seven days from receipt of the letter to conform, caution that his shopper reserved the suitable to pursue criminal therapies if it failed to reply correctly.
The letter didn’t identify {that a} lawsuit were filed or specify which specific allegations within the authentic document Mr Ezeakolam disputes.
SaharaReporters has no longer publicly answered to this danger.
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