Breaking: SSS Frees Detained Journalist, Jones Abiri

By Jide Afolabi, Jos

Nigerian detained journalist, Jones Abiri, arrested on Saturday by armed men suspected to be operatives of the State Security Service has been freed from detention.

The Magazine publisher was released on Monday afternoon from the secret police’s detention facility in Abuja, according to his lawyer.

Premium Times quoted his lawyer, Samuel Ogala, saying, “He has just been released around 2:00 p.m.,” stating that terms of the release would be disclosed later.

The armed men who arrested Mr Abiri came in a Toyota Hilux truck. He was arrested in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital where he hails from. He is the publisher of Weekly Source magazine.

The SSS initially denied knowledge of the arrest, but those who were with him insisted the agency was responsible. No official statement had been issued to clarify the arrest, which comes months after the journalist was released from an prolonged detention.

Abiri had been arrested in 2016 on allegations of blackmailing expatriate oil workers in the Niger-Delta. He denied the allegations, but was kept in custody until August 2018 when he was freed on a court order.

He sued the agency and received damages for N10 million in the case, which has neither been appealed nor executed by the State Security Service.