A trader, Anthony Okolie, has told a Federal High Court in Asaba that upon his arrest, he was informed by the Assistant Director of Operational Services at the Department of State Services, Herbert Ogboli, that the President’s daughter, Hanan Buhari, ordered his detention.
Okolie, who was arrested for using a telephone line that once belonged to Hanan, further stated that he was released from the custody of the DSS immediately after she asked the DSS to release him.
He, therefore, stated that it was not the Presidency that ordered his arrest but Hanan.
The trader said this in reaction to a counter-affidavit to his originating motion.
The applicant, who was detained by the DSS for 10 weeks, is suing the President’s daughter, the DSS and company, MTN, for N500m over his ordeal.
Okolie denied claims by the DSS that he confessed to using Hanan’s old line, 09035666662, to impersonate her and solicit funds from unsuspecting members of the public.
He said, “I was detained by officers of the first respondent (DSS) at Asaba, Delta State, and later transferred for further detention at the first respondent’s headquarters in Abuja for 10 weeks between July 22 and September 23, 2019.
“That on my day of release on September 23, 2019, Herbert Ogboli, officer of the first respondent, also known as Adof and who is the Assistant Director of Operational Services of the first respondent told me in his office early in the morning before my release that the second respondent (Hanan) ordered my arrest.
“Herbert Ogboli told me in his office around 8am on September 23, 2019, before I was released that the first respondent (DSS) contacted the second respondent (Hanan) three times to substantiate her allegations against me but she told him the first time that she was busy with her studies. When she was contacted the second time, she said she would send her lawyers. After the third call, she instructed my release.”
The applicant also asked the court to hold MTN liable for giving the DSS information about his location and call logs which assisted the DSS in locating him and subsequently detaining him for over two months.- Punch
