IPOB invitation: DSS to transfer Igbo leader to Abuja facility

The Department of State Services (DSS) said the self-acclaimed Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos State, Chief Fredrick Nwajagu, will be transferred from its Lagos holding facility to Abuja.

This is according to a security source at the DSS Headquarters, Abuja, who anonymously told Sunday Punch that the embattled Igbo leader is being held in the DSS custody in Lagos.

Recall that Nwajagu was arrested on Saturday, April 1, 2023, for threatening to invite members of the proscribed group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) into Lagos to protect the Igbo people and their properties.

“He is in our custody in Lagos. We expect him to be taken to Abuja. He may not be alone.

“We have said before that there are people who are threatening the peace of the nation. The country will not allow anyone to plunge it into avoidable crisis,” the source told Sunday Punch correspondents.

Pulse had earlier reported that a joint team of policemen and operatives of the DSS traced Nwajagu to a hotel in the Ejigbo area of Lagos where he was eventually arrested

His arrest was later confirmed by the state police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, who added that the Igbo leader had been handed over to the DSS for further action over his threats.

Hundeyin said: “The operation was carried out at midnight. The security operatives didn’t meet him in his palace. But we found out through intelligence gathering that he had lodged in a hotel in Ejigbo.

“He was traced to the location and arrested around 1 am.

"He is currently in the DSS custody where he is being investigated.”

This is coming after Nwajagu was captured in a video threatening to invite IPOB members to Lagos to provide security for Igbo people in the state.

According to the Igbo leader, the move became necessary due to recent attacks on properties and lives of people of South-East extraction during the general elections in the state.

The clip also showed the Igbo leader insisting that his people have legitimately earned the right to stay in Lagos State.

Nwajagu said: “IPOB, we will invite them. They have no job. All of the IPOB will protect all of our shops. And we have to pay them. We have to mobilise for that. We have to do that. We must have our own security so that they will stop attacking us in the midnight, in the morning, in the afternoon.

“When they discover that we have our own security, before they will come, they will know that we have our own men there. I am not saying a single word to be hidden. I am not hiding my words, let my words go viral. Igbo must get their right and get stand in Lagos State.”