Man says DSS detained him for using sim card previously used by Buhari’s daughter

By Dennis Erezi

Operatives of Nigeria’s Department of State Service allegedly arrested and detained a man Anthony Okolie for purchasing a sim card that was previously used by Hannan, a daughter of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari.

Okolie told The Guardian on Monday that he bought the MTN mobile phone sim card in 2018, two years before his arrest.

He was arrested on Monday, July 22 at Nnedisi Road, Asaba, Delta State.

Okolie was taken to Abuja by the DSS operatives and was kept in custody until his release in December 2019.

Efforts to get DSS reaction to the allegation proved abortive as phone calls and a text message to its spokesman Peter Afunanya were not immediately responded to.

Narrating Okolie’s ordeal, his lawyer Tope Akinyode said Okolie was detained for over 15 weeks by operatives of the Nigerian secret police.

Akinyode posited that “the sim card became redundant and was recycled to the market for sale (after Hanan stopped using it).”

“Okolie lawfully bought the sim card after years of redundancy unknown to him who the previous owner was,” Akinyode claimed.

Akinyode said Okolie’s detention was unlawful because he has the receipt for the purchase of the sim card and all other documents pertaining to the sim card.

Okolie’s lawyer told The Guardian that in trying to get his client arrested, the DSS monitored his telephone conversation and initially arrested an elderly person who has a relationship with him until they later found Okolie.

“To start with, all the laws have settled that arrest by proxy is forbidden and unconstitutional in Nigeria,” Akinyode said, “Also, the arrest of the victim over a property which he lawfully obtained is outrageously illegal just as the long detention without trial amounts to unlawful detention.”

His claim is supported by Nigerian law. By virtue of the provisions of section 35(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), section 483 of the criminal procedure Act and section 42 of the criminal procedure Code, the police ought not to detain any person for more than 24 hours without a warrant from a magistrate.

Akinyode disclosed that Okolie will proceed to court to file a lawsuit against the DSS and Ms Hanan Buhari, demanding compensation for the breach of his fundamental human rights.

“We are seeking legal redress on the matter,” Akinyode told The Guardian. “His (Okolie) detention for 10 weeks is unlawful and we will not accept such.”

https://m.guardian.ng/news/man-says-dss-detained-him-for-using-sim-card-previously-used-by-buharis-daughter/

The guy don hammer.

This Dss rubbish self...

Lobatan

I'm not understanding

If at any time he tried to use the phone number for fraud then his arrest and detention is in order. I don't believe the DSS will just swoop on him like that. The sim card was involved in something dubious.

30 insulting mentions and counting.

No matter how bad our security agencies may look, we should remember they are Nigerians like us which means a true reflection of ourselves; stupid and vindictive. I have no apologies for my post above. If that sim card wasn't involved in something bad, that guy wouldn't have been arrested. DSS releasing him doesn't mean he's innocent. Sometimes you let a guilty person go if his trial may trigger something worse. Let more mentions pour in. I'm waiting.

This is wrong

when you think you have seen it all..

This life self

The rate these networks recycle numbers these days is too much , that was how I bought a new sim and the next thing I started receiving bank alerts from access and union bank , I went to the network to report and they said I should go to banks and report , I just removed the SIM and destroyed and moved on jeje , if I was a criminal I would have used mobile banking to empty the person account but the luck is that a very upright person like me got the number

Eyes service

look what our nation's security apparatus has been reduced to... Buhari's lap dogs.. Its really a pity

Hanan might have filed a complaint to the DSS that someone was using her previous sim card to defraud some of her associates, if not, how would the DSS have known about the sim card?

illitrate:
The guy don hammer.

For which country?

Did you not hear those involved?

DSS? Buhari's daughter?

Don't be too excited bro. This is Nigeria. if you know, you know.

I just know sha that when Imes comes, he'll be coming with true justice in many parts of the world where his influence will be felt.

Imes, we await your coming.

DSS and illegality na 5 and 6.

GamalNasser:
The rate these networks recycle numbers these days is too much , that was how I bought a new sim and the next thing I started receiving bank alerts from access and union bank , I went to the network to report and they said I should go to banks and report , I just removed the SIM and destroyed and moved on jeje , if I was a criminal I would have used mobile banking to empty the person account but the luck is that a very upright person like me got the number

Is all over the world, my old simcard of just 1 year old is now used by a Russian woman, she gets daily whatsapp messages from Nigeria asking to send money

Very outrageous.

DSS has got to be the dumbest intelligence agency in the world.

To wat end


War is going on , u pipu are talking abt Sim card

illitrate:
The guy don hammer.

Hammer for where? You think you are in USA or Europe where government pay compensation?
The guy go suffer ehn

its not the guys fault blame the network providers and foolish NCC, who don't do anything than to collect money from empty hen, whether they sell sim cards to boko haram or not, what just concern them is money. up till now many of these networks have poor local area coverages, but what do regulatory bodies do, just lip service. check other countries data prices, they are just extorting us in Nigeria.

those who said this country is a zoo aren't wrong after all, they have a point!!!

The level at which this government and its security agencies keeps flouting the rule of law and human rights is alarming.

Is it not today that we read of he a Western police officers got a distress call from a woman who think that her neighbor is under attack only to realise that it was a parrot?
Somebody should remind us how courteous the officers were with the owner let alone the caller.
Here in this shi.thole DSS are above the law.

GamalNasser:
The rate these networks recycle numbers these days is too much , that was how I bought a new sim and the next thing I started receiving bank alerts from access and union bank , I went to the network to report and they said I should go to banks and report , I just removed the SIM and destroyed and moved on jeje , if I was a criminal I would have used mobile banking to empty the person account but the luck is that a very upright person like me got the number

For ur mind, U upright

celeiyke:



For ur mind, U upright

I am the most upright human being on Earth ..take it from .e

illitrate:
The guy don hammer.

In zimbabwe...

Trouble! So it is a crime to buy sim now. Or do we do background search for SIM cards before we buy

oglalasioux:
If at any time he tried to use the phone number for fraud then his arrest and detention is in order. I don't believe the DSS will just swoop on him like that. The sim card was involved in something dubious.

Your thinking ...you don't think well.

DSS and illegality are 5&6

If I say what is on my mind, hope DSS won't arrest me by proxy?

Sirjamo:
Hanan might have filed a complaint to the DSS that someone was using her previous sim card to defraud some of her associates, if not, how would the DSS have known about the sim card?

Your thinking...Then, they would have charged the guy to court, stop making spurious assumptions, it is a sign that you are not yet intellectually sound.