Mr. Gordon Obua, former Chief Security Officer to immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, has reportedly died in the custody of the Department of Security Services (DSS). A report in The Trent online newspaper said Obua died hours ago in Yellow House, the National Headquarters of the DSS in Abuja, where he had been detained since Thursday, July 16, 2015 on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

A source at the DSS Headquarters, however, denied the story, telling News Express: “The man is not dead but in our custody.”

Obua was arrested when he honoured an invitation by the DSS and had been in solitary confinement until his death.

Obua, who was being detained by the DSS in an underground dungeon for undisclosed reasons was being denied access to his lawyers, family, and his doctors on the orders of the new Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura. The DSS (also called SSS) serves as Nigeria’s secret police.

President Buhari appointed Lawal Daura, his kinsman from his hometown in Katsina on July 2, as head of the DSS after firing Ita Ekpeyong. Daura was recalled from retirement as he had retired from the service of the DSS when he reached the mandatory age of 60 according to the Civil Service rules of Nigeria.

Our sources say Obua’s remains are still in the custody of the DSS at the time of filing this report. He was held without charges filed against him.

On July 18, 2015, Onochie Onwuegbuna, the lead partner at Zeran Legal, has issued a press statement on behalf of Obua’s family complaining about the conditions in which his client was being detained and said that his client was being witch-hunted by the Buhari government. He said his client was diabetic and hypertensive and was being denied his drugs as well as food and water by the DSS.

•Photo shows Jonathan’s ex-CSO Gordon Obua.

Update news