Yenagoa—Mr Ben Ogidi Bara, a Yenagoa-based journalist, has narrated his ordeal while in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) over unexplained charges.
Bara, 37, who is the publisher of Track News, an online news platform, was reportedly arrested on Sunday morning by about 16 operatives of the DSS in the presence of his family.
Narrating his ordeal with newsmen, he stated that he was lured back to his house around 10 am on Sunday with the claim that they were interested in renting his property.
“I got home and was arrested. I demanded to know my crime but they refused to tell me. A hood was used to cover my head and I was taken to the Bayelsa office of DSS.”
“I was left in a room for hours. I was expecting them to tell me my charges but they never showed me any petition against me.
“They kept on asking me if I had any quarrel with the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.
“They also asked me if I had any dealings with illegal oil bunkerers or had oil bunkering business. I told them I had never had dealings with criminals or been involved in crime and criminality. They also asked me if I had written a report that is controversial and who are the sponsors of my online publication, the Track News,” he said.
He revealed that while in the DSS custody, he was only thinking of the welfare of his family and other issues not related to the activities of the DSS against his person.
According to him, “At about evening on Monday, I was taken out of custody and I saw the State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bayelsa State, Comrade Samuel Numonengi, who had come in relation to my ordeal in the hands of the DSS. I was released without a formal charge against me.”
Bara confirmed that his mobile phones are still in the custody of the DSS at the time of his chat with newsmen.
DSS operatives had on Sunday arrested Bara over the alleged controversial unexplained role in the ongoing libel suit involving the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote, and Jackson Ude, Publisher of Pointblanknews.
Mr. Mie Ogidi, the elder brother to the arrested publisher, who confirmed the development to newsmen on phone, said Bara’s wife called him that the men were dressed in blacktop and brown trousers and armed with guns.
While the elder brother, Ogidi, could not confirm the reasons for his brother’s arrest, he confirmed that the mobile phones of his arrested brother have been switched off since the arrest.
