Human-rights lawyer and Lead Counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has applauded the appointment of Mr. Adeola Ajayi as Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS).
He described the appointment as a positive turning point for an institution long associated with impunity.
Ejiofor also urged the new DG to deepen ongoing reforms by revisiting all cases of innocent South-Easterners still held in unlawful detention.
In a statement titled “weekend musing: a rare glimpse of institutional contrition – the dss, a new sheriff, and the audacity of redemption,” Ejiofor said Ajayi’s emergence was widely viewed as “the long-awaited placement of a round peg in a round hole.”
He noted that Ajayi’s record of professionalism, discipline, and humane leadership made his appointment a welcome development at a time when public trust in the DSS had severely eroded.
Ejiofor recalled that before Ajayi took office, he had publicly appealed for a comprehensive review of the catalogue of abuses, arbitrary detentions, and human-rights violations that had become the hallmark of the DSS under previous leadership.
The Human Right lawyer said it was “astonishing” to see a security institution voluntarily acknowledge wrongdoing—something more common in established democracies than in Nigeria.
Palpable transformation
According to him, the transformation within the DSS since Ajayi assumed office has been “palpable.”
The new DG, he noted, has shifted the agency from a fear-driven, coercive force to a more professional intelligence outfit committed to reducing human-rights infractions, avoiding judicial embarrassments, strengthening inter-agency cooperation, and enforcing internal anti-corruption safeguards.
However, Ejiofor said nothing prepared Nigerians for Ajayi’s most historic step: publicly compensating citizens who were wrongfully detained under the previous DSS leadership.
Among them were several people of Igbo extraction, many of whom had been held without trial for years.
He described the gesture as a bold, humane act and a rare display of institutional remorse—one that rekindled hope that government agencies could rise above entrenched patterns of abuse.
He revealed that Ajayi has already set up a task force to review similar cases to ensure the release of all innocent detainees still in custody.
This, he said, marks a radical departure from the agency’s past, especially under the former DG whose tenure, he alleged, was marked by rampant abductions, enforced disappearances, unlawful detentions, and widespread persecution of innocent Igbo youths, men, and women.
Midnight raids victims
Many victims, according to him were arrested in midnight raids and transferred to facilities such as the DSS detention unit in Wawa Barracks, Niger State.
Some have reportedly been held since 2019 without trial, legal representation, or contact with their families.
“These citizens became victims not of law, but of dangerous and reckless labelling,” he lamented.
While commending Ajayi’s courage and reformist zeal, Ejiofor appealed—“like the proverbial Oliver Twist”—for the DG to extend his review to these forgotten detainees.
He expressed confidence that a thorough investigation would justify their immediate release.
For individuals against whom credible evidence exists, he urged the DSS to promptly charge them to court so that justice can take its proper course.
Ejiofor said Nigeria must support and encourage rare public servants like Ajayi, who demonstrate the courage to break with destructive institutional traditions and restore dignity to national security operations.
He emphasized, however, that citizens also have a responsibility to promote peace, safety, and national cohesion.
“With this unprecedented step,” Ejiofor concluded, “the DSS under Mr. Ajayi has not merely reformed an institution; it has momentarily reminded Nigeria of what good governance ought to look like.”
