The Department of State Services, DSS, has awarded a N10 million compensation to an Abuja-based woman, Mrs. Chineze Ozoadibe, found to have been wrongfully arrested and detained by a sister security agency on allegations of involvement in illegal oil bunkering.

The woman was held in the DSS detention facility some months back.

Director General of the DSS, Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, who after a painstaking investigation, found the arrest and detention of the woman to be wrongful, ordered her immediate release.

She was picked up on suspicion of alleged involvement in illegal oil bunkering, considered to be a serious economic crime against the country, and moved to the DSS months back for a thorough investigation.

However, as part of his avowed determination to operate within the ambit of the law and best global practices, the DSS DG was said to have launched an independent investigation into the oil bunkering suspicion and found the woman to be innocent.

Apart from Mrs Ozoadibe’s N10 million compensation, the DSS boss also directed that five other persons wrongfully arrested should share N10 million as compensation and be released as well.

The businesswoman was arrested in the course of busting an illegal oil bunkering syndicate by a team of security operatives.

However, in the course of a detailed investigation, eagle-eyed DSS men established that Mrs Ozoadibe’s arrest was coincidental and convinced, prompting the DSS DG to order her immediate release and compensation.

“You’ll realize that the release of wrongfully arrested and detained persons, and the award of compensation to them, have become the new culture of the DSS since that man, Mr. Ajayi took over as DG.

“This latest one is not an isolated case of setting free wrongfully detained persons. The DSS DG has done that several times. It is only a few who made it to the media. Remember the Jos-based businessman who was mistakenly shot by the DSS in 2016.

“It took eight years and the arrival of Mr. Ajayi as the DG of the DSS for the Service to agree to pay the N10 million that a Federal High Court awarded the victim as damages.

“Not only did the new DSS DG pay N10 million, he doubled it to N20 million, and added free medicare for life for the victim.

“As a thoroughbred professional, Mr. Ajayi has seen and experienced first-hand that even the best security agencies sometimes make mistakes.

“That is why, on assuming office, he told his personnel to be very painstaking in their operations and also admitted that, as humans, they are fallible.

“However, when they make such mistakes, they should be man enough to own up to it, and that is the reason he is releasing wrongfully detained persons and awarding them compensation,” a top official confided in the media.

The official also said that in the bid to stem the tide of mistakes, the DG of DSS has approved the legal department of the Service to ensure that due process is painstakingly followed in all cases being handled by the Agency.

According to the source, “Now, the standard procedure is that all Investigation Officers conduct proper investigations before carrying out any arrests”.