Real reason DSS grilled Okey Ndibe – Sources

Official security sources have debunked reports that renowned author Professor Okey Ndibe was arrested or detained at the airport on Monday, clarifying that he departed within 30 minutes following a brief, routine border-control check to review a legacy 2013 watch-list record.

High-level security sources have strongly dismissed viral media reports claiming that the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested or detained the internationally acclaimed Nigerian writer and academic, Professor Okey Ndibe, upon his arrival in the country. Official accounts emerging on Monday night revealed that the celebrated author, who landed at the airport from the United States at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 1, 2026, was only subjected to standard, brief border-control screening. According to a source close to the operation, the entire interaction was highly professional and smooth, ending with the academic departing the airport terminal in less than 30 minutes after completing the mandatory compliance profiling.

The administrative encounter was traced back to an active Watch-List Action (WLA) flagged by automated border systems, a security file originally opened against the author over a decade ago. Intelligence logs show that the restriction was first implemented in 2013 during the civilian administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, but the file had recently been systematically downgraded by the current Director-General of the DSS. Deconstructing the brief nature of the immigration interaction, the security source explained, “Upon arrival from the United States, today June 1, at 11.30am, he was routinely questioned in line with international best practices at the border control,” while affirming that, “Prof Ndibe, according to the source, departed the airport barely 30 minutes after procedural engagement. The DSS action, according to the source, stems from a Watch-List Action (WLA), which was initiated on him in 2013 during President Jonathan’s administration but has recently been downgraded by the present DG DSS.”

The brief interaction is part of a broader institutional housecleaning policy newly introduced by the leadership of the secret police to purge obsolete files from the national intelligence database. Under the new directive, the agency is conducting an extensive review of historical watch lists to systematically remove names of activists, dissidents, and intellectuals whose records have remained un-updated for years. The DSS clarified that brief face-to-face engagements with affected citizens arriving from the diaspora are a mandatory, technical step required to finalize documentation before officially expunging their profiles from the federal border security database for good.

READ THE FULL STORY IN VANGUARD