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General News of Monday, 9 August 2021

Source: punchng.com

Family accuses DSS of detaining driver

DSS officials DSS officials

The family of Godwin Uket has accused the Department of State Services of unlawfully detaining him for over 12 days without notifying them.

Uket, a 41-year-old commercial driver, was said to have brought some persons from Abakaliki to Abuja on July 25.

He was said to have been arrested in Lokoja while conveying the passengers back to Abakaliki the following day.

Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday, Uket’s younger brother, Chamberlain, accused the DSS of not informing Godwin’s wife or the family about his arrest.

According to him, he got to know of his brother’s arrest through an online report and one of his colleagues, whose brother was onboard.Chamberlain said, “My brother is a transporter. He brought some persons to Abuja from Abakaliki and they were supposed to return on July 26.

“On July 26, the wife called him around 9 am; he said he was waiting for the people he brought. After some hours, she tried his number and it rang out. She alerted the family and we kept calling till the following day, he didn’t pick.

“However, on Wednesday and Thursday, his phone was switched off. We thought if he was kidnapped, they would have reached out to us for ransom, and if he was involved in an accident, we would have been contacted, but nothing was heard from him.

“I started reaching out to people and even posted on social media and it went viral. I went online and read that people were arrested in Abuja and I also saw another that said some persons were arrested in Lokoja. In that of Lokoja, they mentioned Sienna; they listed the names of the persons on board and the driver was not there.

“Some days later, I contacted one of my brother’s colleagues in Abakaliki, he said his brother was in the vehicle my brother was driving and that his name was published by an online media as part of those arrested by DSS. That gave me a clue.”

When asked if his brother transported Nnamdi Kanu’s loyalists to witness his trial, he said, “My brother is a transporter. I don’t know if those he conveyed were supporters of Kanu but what we are aware of is that he conveyed certain people to Abuja and was to bring them back to Abakaliki.”He said the family was worried because of his health, saying that the custody was unsafe for his brother

“My issue is that they arrested him and didn’t inform the family. He is hypertensive and asthmatic. We would be coming to Abuja with our lawyer this week to get him released,” he said.

The DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, could not be reached for comment as he did not reply to a message sent to his line on the matter as of the time of filling this report.