Nigeria releases man detained after tweeting photos of gun-battle at SSS headquarters

Yusuf Onimisi Siyaka, the Nigerian man arrested and detained by the State Security Service for 12 days, for tweeting pictures of an attempted jail break in Abuja, has been released, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report this morning.

It is not clear how and when Mr. Siyaka was released but family members confirmed to this newspaper that he has been set free.

One of his relatives, who described herself as his auntie but declined to give her name, told PREMIUM TIMES at Mr. Siyaka’s Life Camp residence in Abuja that the detained man simply returned home after he was released.

She said after he returned home, a driver was asked to drive him to Okene in Kogi state to visit his mother, who she said was apprehensive and was longing to see him.

Asked about Mr. Siyaka’s health, the woman simply said he was in good health and did not appear traumatised.

As she spoke to our reporter and other sympathizers who visited the residence, the woman appeared flustered and scared, indicating the SSS might have warned the family against providing information on Mr. Siyaka’s detention to anyone.

Although she claimed Mr. Siyaka was already travelling to Okene, our reporter got hint he was in the apartment but was being shielded by family members from speaking to anyone on his ordeals.

Mr. Siyaka had disappeared after tweeting photos of fighting between Nigerian security operatives and Boko Haram suspects trying to escape from the State Security Service (SSS) headquarters.

Witnesses said he was arrested by armed plainclothes operatives outside his office and whisked away. He was not allowed access to family members or lawyers.

The SSS has so far failed to confirm or deny that they  arrested and detained him.

But while the SSS kept mum on Mr. Siyaka’s whereabouts, Nigerian bloggers and activists mounted intensive push for his release, with some organizing for a “physical campaign” to press authorities to act.

“If we are all scared and quiet, the Abacha tendency in our government will arise again,” a social media activist, Babatunde Rosanwo, said. “Yesterday, they came for@ciaxon. Today, they will come for you. By tomorrow, they will have all of us.”

Mr. Siyaka, 28, was born on June 14, 1986.

An indigene of Okene in Kogi state, he attended Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, Life Camp, Abuja, graduating with a Senior School Certificate in 2000.

He later studied Electrical Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University, graduating with a Second-Class Upper degree in 2010.

Between 2011 and 2012, Mr. Siyaka worked with the Department of Electrical Electronic Engineering of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa State, for his National Youth Service Corps programme.

Before then, he had, as an intern, amassed industrial experience working with construction  giant, Julius Berger. He monitored the construction of street light along Airport Road in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

He also, between 2005 and 2006,  interned at the Faculty of Enginnering of the Ahmadu Bello University, learning designs and construction of engineering tools.

He speaks Ebira, Hausa and English fluently and enjoys E-learning, swimming and memorization of the Holy Quoran.