Our Reporter, Abuja
Public outrage has intensified following a revelation by activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, who disclosed in a social media post on Tuesday that the Department of State Services (DSS) has admitted the death of Mrs. Calista Ifedi, a woman arrested in 2021 and detained at the Wawa Barracks over alleged links to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Sowore, in the post shared on his X handle on Tuesday, said Mrs. Ifedi died while in DSS custody after being unlawfully detained for allegedly selling food to persons suspected to be IPOB members. He described her detention as illegal, saying she was denied due process and adequate medical care before her death.
According to Sowore, Mrs. Ifedi died at the Wawa Barracks detention facility about two years ago, but her death was neither disclosed to her family nor made public until recently. He said the DSS’s admission confirms a “grave abuse of power” and a tragic failure of the Nigerian state to protect life.
Mrs. Ifedi was arrested alongside her husband, Mr. Sunday Ifedi, at their home in Enugu on November 23, 2021. Her husband, who was released from DSS custody in December 2025, reportedly last saw his wife in March 2022 when they were transferred from the DSS headquarters to Wawa Barracks, separated, and never allowed to see each other again.
Sowore further stated that sustained advocacy by Amnesty International Nigeria, human rights lawyers and other campaigners revealed that Mrs. Ifedi’s alleged offence was that IPOB members had patronised her food business in Enugu. He alleged that while in detention, she fell ill but was denied medical care, left to deteriorate and eventually died in custody, without her family being informed.
The disclosure has triggered widespread condemnation on X, with many Nigerians calling for accountability and justice.
An X user, Ikenna Okoro, wrote: “If her children grow up tomorrow and decide to be a weapon fashioned against the DSS and every Nigerian security personnel, you will call them IPOB and start tagging them terrorists. Now the DSS has yet again taken another innocent life, leaving her husband and family heartbroken.”
Another user, Obiorah Otu, described the incident as “an indictment of a system that chose impunity over law,” adding that “a Nigerian woman was arrested without a warrant, detained without charge, denied access to counsel, refused medical care in state custody and allowed to die in silence.”
He warned that “if selling food is now grounds for disappearance and death, then every market woman, transporter or trader in Nigeria is at risk,” stressing that such actions amount to collective punishment and have no place in a constitutional democracy.
Other users expressed grief and anger over the incident. Kingprince wrote: “This is heartbreaking. Imagine how lives are wasted in Nigeria for reasons that don’t make sense in any way.”
Another user simply commented: “Honestly, these men really treated Igbos badly.”
Human rights advocates have called for the immediate release of Mrs. Ifedi’s remains, an independent autopsy to determine the cause of her death, and the prosecution of all officials allegedly involved in her unlawful detention and treatment. There have also been renewed calls for the closure of the Wawa Barracks detention facility.
