By our reporter 1.6.2026
Okey Ndibe a US-based Nigerian author and columnist was Monday detained for several hours on his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos.
According to the Department of State Security officials Mr. Ndibe, a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was detained and questioned because he was on their watchlist of persons of interest.
Ndibe said after his release that it was a shame that the country failed to hold criminals accountable but routinely harass perceived critics of the government.
“I told the DSS that it’s a shame a country that rolls out the red carpet for criminals would harass a writer who wages war on corruption and the corrupt,” he said.
According to the DSS Mr. Ndibe has to go to Abuja and remove his name from their watchlist otherwise he would still be detained again any time he returns to Nigeria. Ndibe had been treated to such welcome before; in 2011 he was also held for several hours at the airport and Nigerian and American passports held for two days by the agency.
“On each occasion he was arrested in the past, he would be released after the airport DSS officials got in touch with their superiors in Abuja,” said former Anambra State commissioner of information C. Don Adinuba, a close pal of Ndibe.
“It is a pity that this agency doesn’t update its database to enable the officers on duty at the airport to know that the agency no longer regards Professor Ndibe as a security threat to the administration. The agency has on each occasion apologised to him for the wrongful detention.”
Okey Ndibe...a guest of the DSS anytime he comes to Nigeria.