Among the current crop of Nigerias security chiefs, perhaps none is as widely respected for his professional record as the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi. Since his assumption of office, he has been celebrated as a quintessential officerone who is neither a religious bigot nor an ethnocentric partisan. His track record in states like Bauchi and Kaduna reflects a man who understands the delicate fabric of our diverse society and has often supported Muslim communal activities with the same zeal he applies to national security.

It is precisely because of this high regard that I find myself profoundly bewildered. Why is it that this same leadership, credited with a commitment to due process, appears to be wavering in the face of a clear court order? I am referring to the case of Walida Abdulhadi Ibrahim, a young Muslim girl from Jigawa State, and the stalled prosecution of a DSS operative, Ifeanyi Onyewuenyi, accused of her abduction, sexual exploitation, and forced conversion to Christianity.

This disturbing saga echoes the 20152016 Ese Oruru case. The nation vividly remembers how a teenage girl from Bayelsa was taken to Kano by Yunusa Dahiru (popularly known as Yellow), where she was allegedly converted to Islam and impregnated. The public outcry at the time was overwhelming. The media, civil society, and the international community demanded swift justice.

The Bayelsa State Government under Governor Seriake Dickson intervened decisively providing medical care, insisting on a thorough investigation, and ensuring prosecution. Yunusa Dahiru was eventually convicted and jailed. Ese Oruru received rehabilitation and later graduated from the University of Ilorin in flying colour

In my recent essay, From Ese Oruru to Walida: Unmasking Selective Outrage, I asked a rhetorical question that now feels prophetic: Would Walidas case attract the same moral panic? Or would it be quietly buried because it doesn’t fit a convenient narrative of religious persecution? My fears are being validated by the day.

A coalition of civil society and faith-based organisations recently raised the alarm in Abuja, accusing the DSS of violating a subsisting court order directing the release of 16-year-old Walida to her family. They specifically named DSS officer Ifeanyi Onyewuenyi as central to the allegations and called for his prosecution should any culpability be established.

A petition filed by Gamji Lawchain paints a disturbing picture: a minor allegedly abducted two years ago, held in unlawful custody, and denied access to her parents. Her father maintains that the trauma of this ordeal contributed directly to the untimely death of Walidas mother.

At the heart of the controversy is the DSS acting simultaneously as custodian and investigator a clear conflict of interest. Compounding this is a suspicious dispute over her age. While the family insists she is 16, there are attempts to portray her as a 22-year-old adult. An independent, document-based verification of her age is essential. Anything less would undermine the integrity of our child protection laws.

Strangely, a group known as the Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) has issued a counter message, claiming that she left home in 2023 and was taken by a woman called Maryam later identified as Chinaza who allegedly converted her to Christianity. The AYA leader, Salihu Danlami, further asserted that Walida underwent a mental evaluation and is stable and happy with her captor. Such claims overlook the well documented psychological phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome.

We have seen this before in the North-East; rescued Chibok and Dapchi girls have, at times, expressed a desire to return to their abusers after rescue from ISWAP/Boko Haram, exhibiting emotional bonds with their captors as a survival-driven coping mechanism. A girl who has been serially abused and impregnated outside of matrimony cannot be declared “mentally stable” by a youth group in a press conference. She requires clinical rehabilitation, not media interviews.

The DSS must comply fully with judicial directives concerning Walidas custody and potential reunification with her family. A neutral, independent inquiry into the allegations against the DSS operative should be conducted. If found guilty, he must face the full weight of the lawjust as Yunusa Dahiru did in the Ese Oruru case.

There must also be transparent verification of Walidas age through credible documentation and independent scrutiny. NAPTIP should assume a leading role, given the child-protection and trafficking dimensions.

Equally, the Jigawa State Government under Governor Umar Namadi must not remain on the sidelines. A decade ago, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa did not treat Ese Orurus case as someone elses burden. He intervened decisively and stood by the victim. Jigawa should do no less for Walida.

The media and the public must resist the urge to frame this matter in inflammatory religious terms. During the Ese Oruru case, northern traditional rulers and religious leaders were hastily accused of complicity. We must not repeat that mistake or allow this situation to be cast as a religious confrontation. Just as many argued in 2016 that Yunusas actions did not represent Islam, we must also acknowledge that the alleged actions of Onyewuenyi do not represent Christianity or the DSS.

We cannot afford another cycle of collective suspicion. Responsible communication not sensationalism must guide public discourse. This is not a religious contest. It is a child rights issue. Justice must never depend on religious identity.

If Nigeria is to remain a nation governed by law rather than sentiment, then institutions especially the DSS must uphold due process, transparency, and accountability. This case must follow the same standard of judicial openness and constitutional procedure that defined the high profile Ese Oruru investigation, which the police handled with commendable neutrality.

I therefore respectfully appeal to the Director General of the DSS to act swiftly, transparently, and in full fidelity to the rule of law. As a man of established integrity, he must ensure that justice is neither delayed nor distorted. Let it never be said that under his leadership, the law became a respecter of persons or uniforms.

In cases involving alleged child exploitation or forced conversion, justice delayed is justice questioned. Institutional integrity is measured not by rhetoric but by response.

What was good for Ese Oruru must, in the interest of fairness and equity, also be good for Walida.

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of “An Encounter with the Spymaster” and can be reached via yashuaib@yashuaib.com.

The post To DSS Boss: What Was Good for Ese Oruru Must Also Be Good for Walida Abdulhadi appeared first on YAShuaib.

I have always resisted being dragged into ethnoreligious arguments. Not because the issues are trivial, but because many of the loudest voices in such debates are not merely passionatethey are fanatical. Some are so blinded by affiliation that they excuse injustice, flirt with heresy, or even justify violence in defence of identity. In recent months, especially after U.S. President Donald Trumps inflammatory threats against Nigerian Muslims over an alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, I found myself losing respect for some elders, friends, and colleagues. Their positions were so reckless and prejudiced that I questioned whether our long-standing relationships had ever been grounded in sincerity.

It was against this background that recent media reports jolted my memory: a Department of State Services (DSS) operative, Ifeanyi Onyewuenyi, had been arrested for allegedly abducting, raping, and forcibly converting a Muslim girl to Christianity. Instantly, my mind travelled back to 2016the traumatic case of Ese Oruru and Yunusa Dahiru, popularly known as Yellow. That episode dominated newspapers, television screens, social media timelines, and the commentary of self-styled influencers who fed hungrily on outrage.

In March 2016, precisely 10 years ago I intervened in that heated national debate with an article titled Ese Oruru: From Delta to Northern Savannah. (Link to the article:https://yashuaib.com/2016/03/ese-oruru-from-delta-creek-to-northern-savannah-by-yushau-a-shuaib/) Drawing from my positive 1992 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) experience in Delta State, I contrasted a past era of inter-ethnic openness with the poisonous divisions that surfaced during the Ese OruruYunusa Dahiru saga. Ese, a teenage girl from Bayelsa, and Yunusa, a young Kano-born artisan living in Yenagoa, became unwilling symbols in a storm whipped up by sensationalist media, political opportunists, and religious bigots.

My argument then was simple but unpopular: what should have been treated as a grave but personal criminal matteran ill-advised and unlawful teenage elopementwas irresponsibly reframed into a national crisis of religion and ethnicity. The case was weaponised. Hypocrisy flourished. Sectarian outrage drowned nuance. And anyone who urged restraint or perspective was branded a traitor.

The facts of that case are well known. Ese Oruru, a teenager, was taken from Bayelsa to Kano by Yunusa Dahiru, who claimed to be her boyfriend. She was allegedly forced to convert to Islam and married without parental consent. Following intense public pressure, she was rescued in 2016 while pregnant. In 2020, a Federal High Court sentenced Yunusa to 26 years in prison for child trafficking and sexual exploitation. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to seven years, accounting for time already spent in custody.

What received far less attention, however, was what happened afterwards. Yunusa reportedly completed his secondary education while incarcerated and was described by the Nigerian Correctional Service as a well-behaved and reform-minded inmate and was released in 2023. Ese Oruru, on the other hand, despite the trauma and stigma, returned to school and later gained admission to the University of Ilorin, from which she graduated in 2025. These outcomes did not erase the crime, but they reminded us that justice, rehabilitation, and human recovery can coexist.

Fast-forward to the present. The DSS has confirmed the arrest of its operative, Ifeanyi Onyewuenyi, following a petition alleging that he abducted a Muslim girl, Walida Abdulhadi, kept her in a DSS residence for two years, sexually exploited her, and forcibly converted her to Christianity. According to her family, they searched desperately for Walida during this period and reportedly lost her mother to the trauma. They only learned of her whereabouts when the suspect allegedly called her father on New Years Day 2026, claiming Walida had given birth to his child and that he intended to marry her.

The familys lawyers have rightly described the case as a grave abuse of office and demanded prosecution and an independent investigation of the DSS facility involved. To its credit, the DSS confirmed the arrest, condemned the alleged conduct as a violation of its code of ethics, and announced that a full investigation is underway, with assurances that findings will be made public.

And yet, here lies the uncomfortable question: where is the outrage?

Nearly a decade ago, Nigeria erupted over the abduction and alleged forced conversion of Ese Oruru, a Christian girl, to Islam. Today, a Muslim girl is alleged to have been abducted, raped, and forcibly converted to Christianity by a state security operative. Will this case attract the same volume of condemnation? The same moral panic? The same international attention? Or will it be quietly processed because it does not fit a preferred narrative?

When I wrote in 2016, I was almost crucified for refusing to dance to the drums of sectarian hysteria. Today, faced with a disturbingly similar incident, I find myself cautiousalmost hesitantto speak, knowing how easily principled arguments can be twisted into accusations of bias.

But silence, too, is a position.

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of An Encounter with the Spymaster and can be reached via yashuaib@yashuaib.com.

The post From Ese Oruru to Walida: Exposing Selective Outrage in Child Sexual Exploitation Cases appeared first on YAShuaib.

On December 29, it will be exactly four years that you have been re-arrested by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS). Since that disheartening day in 2015, you have been clamped in illegal detention, in utter disregard for the rule of law and unconcealed contempt for court orders directing your release from unlawful custody. (https://cutt.ly/dasukibails)

It is no longer news that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has blatantly and consistently disobeyed the several bails granted for your release by High Courts, the Appeal Court and the ECOWAS Court of Justice. More worrisome is the fact that the judges/Justice involved seem afraid to enforce their judgments in this regard. The Judges possibly nurse the fear of a similar predicament that befell the first trial judge in your case, Justice Ademola Adetokunbo, who had ordered your immediate release. Subsequently, his house was not only ransacked, but he was also humiliated and arraigned in court, alongside his wife who was then Head of Service in Lagos State. Although both of them were acquitted of the charges brought on them by the state, they were immediately retired from public service after this. (https://cutt.ly/ademola)

Once again, I wish to commiserate with you over the death of your father, Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, who unfortunately was not able to see you before he passed on in Abuja; and also over the mysterious death of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, whose family equally went through some frightening plight thereafter.

Meanwhile, the AVM Jon-ode Arms probe panel, which claimed to have indicted a number of security officials, mostly Nigerian Airforce officers, was unceremoniously disbanded after some members of the team were caught red-handed in criminal activities and corrupt practices. (https://cutt.ly/jonode)

That infamous panel deliberately refused to acknowledge the efforts of the previous administration, during your tenure as the National Security Adviser (NSA), when our gallant troops recovered many towns and villages from Boko Haram terrorists in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

Some of the liberated towns then include, but are not limited to, Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, and Vimtim, among other communities. There are available videos and pictorial evidence on these successes, including the rescue of 234 abductees (women and children) on April 30, 2015, by the military, who had stormed sections of the Sambisa Forest. (https://cutt.ly/bokotowns)

The same panel must have deliberately ignored the classified ‘Operation Salama’ in North-West, during which our illustrious troops eliminated hundreds of terrorists in notorious terrorist enclaves in the Kano-Jigawa axis, in an intelligence-driven operation sanctioned by the then government of the two States, in cooperation with traditional institutions in the areas.

Prior to this, the insurgents had sacked police stations, shut down schools and businesses and were taxing citizens and running an illegal administration, especially in Lamba and Bolmo Forests, in the Gwaram district of Jigawa State in 2014, before the military offensives that liberated these places with minimal collateral damages. (https://cutt.ly/jgschool)

Since the destruction of the enclaves and elimination of the terrorists by the well-trained special forces, there has never been a repeat terrorist incursion in that axis, except for the suspected reprisal attack on the convoy of late Emir Ado Bayero of Kano.

Meanwhile, the terrorists have sustained their atrocities in the North-East. In fairness to President Buhari, his administration has provided adequate funding for recruitments and the procurement of equipment for the military, but the terrorists still engage our troops in a cat-and-mouse game. Governor Zulum recently cried out that Boko Haram had occupied some communities in Borno State after the terrorists executed Muslim aid workers and converted a Christian female worker into a permanent sex-slave. (https://cutt.ly/zulum)

I wish the current NSA Babagana Monguno could learn some crucial lessons from your administration, in curtailing the excesses of insurgents and banditry in the North-East and North-West, through the cooperation of traditional institutions and the political class in local communities. In fact, effective coordination of the operations Python Dance of General Buratai and Rattlesnakes of Air Marshal Sadique could make the desired impacts.

I am still surprised that Northerners, especially from your Sokoto axis, have not demonstrated enough courage to press for your release, just as other states and regions have been clamouring in defence of their people who are facing persecution. Imagine the Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, from Kebbi State, who ought to strive to be fair and just, claiming in a media interview that you (Dasuki) were instrumental to the death of 100,000 Nigerians, even when the entire death tally since the break of the Boko Haram menace has been less than 25,000! When your family took him before the Disciplinary Panel of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee over the prejudicial statement, he recanted and denied making such claim. (https://cutt.ly/malami)

It is very painful that some close allies of President Buhari, who could have intervened on your behalf, are not only your supposed friends but are more importantly family members. The wife of Mamman Daura is your full sister. The wife of a former Chief Justice of the Federation, Mrs Maryam Uwais, is your step-sister. Even Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, is an in-law, who played a key role in your wedding. I don’t need to mention your relationship with Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Adamu Adamu, Rotimi Amaechi, among others. Why are they silent about your fate? Is it the fear of losing power or patronage? (https://cutt.ly/spymaster)

Meanwhile, I have noticed the courage and fearlessness of a few retired army officers who have publicly defended you, especially on the positive roles you played in Buhari’s life and your sacrifices to the nation as a distinguished spymaster. For instance, a former ADC to General Buhari during the military era, Mustapha Jokolo, disclosed in a widely publicised interview that you (Dasuki) were the major financier of the coup that brought Buhari to power in December 1983 (https://cutt.ly/jokolo). In the face of the false claim that you arrested Buhari after the IBB coup, Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu from Katsina has publicly announced that it was him, alongside others, who picked Buhari up in Dodan Barracks on that day in August 1985 (https://cutt.ly/aminu). You took no part in this. More so, at different occasions, Colonel Dangiwa Umar and Sheikh Ahmad Gummi have stated that the only offence for your illegal detention so far was due to your loyalty to President Goodluck Jonathan as his NSA (https://cutt.ly/gummi).

Their efforts could not be comparable to that showered by others on our friend, Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of SaharaReporters, who is also in illegal detention against court orders, for staging a protest tagged RevolutionNow. You will recall that even though he supported our media campaign for security service during my compulsory retirement, his news medium, SaharaReporters was nevertheless used to campaign against you and the previous administration by APC-Buhari’s elements.

On a lighter note, I have retired voluntarily from the public service on October 10 this year after the reinstatement. Meanwhile, I am yet to be paid the five years entitlement by your old friend, Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed

While I commend the humility, perseverance and stoicism that you have chosen to bear your present predicament, I pray for positive development in your situation, so that you don’t spend any further stretch of time in illegal detention, going forward.

I pray that Allah continues to grant you the fortitude and grace to continue to endure the current challenges without succumbing to deep despair, till justice is achieved in your situation, within the earliest possible time.

Sincere Regards. Always.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author “An Encounter with the Spymaster”

The post Memo to Sambo Dasuki on 4th Year in Illegal Detention and More Revelations appeared first on YAShuaib.

NTA Video on Visit to Sambo Dasuki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uhmtbqTfNs

Surprisingly, seven days after his family denied the rumours that he was dead, some people are still calling to confirm the true story on the plight of Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd).

Early in the morning of February 23, 2019, when Nigerians go to the poll for Presidential and National Assembly Elections, I received several calls and messages from mostly Editors trying to confirm a rumour on purported death in security custody of the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki.

Dasuki has been in the custody for more than three years despite being granted bails by more than five high courts while the ECOWAS Court of Justice also ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to release him immediately from illegal detention.

He had recently berated the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari over his continued detention and disobedience to various court orders that admitted him on bails since December 2015. In a strongly worded letter dated November 12, 2018, which he personally signed and addressed to the Registrar of the Federal High Court Abuja, Dasuki had vowed to boycott any proceeding for his trial since the Federal Government had proved beyond reasonable doubt that it would not obey any order of the court even if it is in his favour.

Alarmed by some audios being spread on the social media on the rumoured death of the spymaster on the election day, I quickly called his family members including his wife and sibling for enquiry.

They expressed similar shock and that they had even received condolence messages from people on the same speculation. One of the family members also told me of their visit to Sambo Dasuki the previous night at the Department of Security Services (DSS) where he is being detained.

I put a call to the spokesperson of DSS, Mr. Peter Afunanya who told me that the ex-NSA is alive.

I was later granted approval to visit the ex-NSA that morning for confirmation.

On arrival at the DSS reception, I was a bit worried seeing a media crew from the government-owned Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), led by Talatu Ezurike at the premises of the secret service.

We were later ushered into the office of DSS spokesperson who described the news of Dasuki’s demise as fake, callous and inciting, saying: “There is no iota of truth or credibility about the rumoured death of Col. Sambo Dasuki. We make bold to state that the former NSA is very much in good health and not dead. Therefore, it behooves the general public to disbelief and condemns the atrocious online story that Dasuki has died in DSS’ custody.”

He later led us (this writer and NTA Crew) to meet the former National Security Adviser in a modest room, that looks like an office.

With a cup of tea before him, Dasuki looked relaxed and unperturbed as he welcomed us. He cracked jokes on his rumoured death.

When he noticed a Camera from NTA crew, he quickly warned against video recording of the encounter. He also said he would not grant an interview to the Television station, even though he cheerfully exchanged pleasantries and threw banters.

We chatted for a while as he expressed himself freely and courageously on how he felt about being unjustly detained after sacrifices to his fatherland.

Before we left, I suggested he should allow his photograph to be taken while he was sitting. He reluctantly agreed.

I pray that sooner than later he would be vindicated and freed from the baseless and malicious allegations against him.

We left afterward.

Since I have an agreement with DSS Spokesperson not to report our discussion, I can only confirm that Sambo Dasuki is alive, hale and hearty when we met him on that Saturday, February 23, 2019.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author, An Encounter with the Spymaster
yashuaib@yahoo.com

The post VIDEO: Sambo Dasuki is alive and hearty in Custody-YAShuaib appeared first on YAShuaib.