The State Security Service (SSS) has freed Adejuwon Soyinka, a Nigerian journalist, after detaining him for more than six hours on Sunday. Mr Soyinka, the West African Regional Editor of Conversation Africa, was arrested at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport about 5.40 a.m. on Sunday after arriving from the United Kingdom on a Virgin Atlantic flight.

He was driven from the airport to the SSS headquarters annex in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was detained until about 12.30 p.m. when he was granted bail.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that SSS decided to grant him bail following the intervention of the International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria.

As part of his bail conditions, the agency took his passport and requested that he supply his Nigerian address and a dependable phone number where he could be found at any time in Nigeria.

Mr Soyinka confirmed his release from the almost six-hour imprisonment in a text message sent to PREMIUM TIMES at around 1.26 p.m. Sunday. “I was just released by the DSS (SSS) in Lagos.” However, they are still holding my passport. “I am in an Uber ride ordered for me by the Deputy Director of DSS in Lagos,” his text message stated. He vowed to discuss more about his experience when he got home. The reason for his arrest was not immediately known, but SSS later told PREMIUM TIMES that its agents “intercepted” the journalist at the request of another government agency.

However, SSS spokesperson Peter Ifunnaya, who confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES, refused to identify the identity of the agency that was reported to have demanded the journalist’s detention or the alleged crimes. The arrest occurred approximately two weeks after the statewide #EndBadGovernance protests, during which the SSS and police harassed and fired tear gas and live bullets at journalists and nonviolent protestors. Some nonviolent protesters who were arrested in their

Soyinka’s detention is the latest in a series of incidents that reflect Nigeria’s deteriorating press freedom.