The Department of State Services (DSS) has threatened a lawsut against Khalid Aminu, a participant in the August #EndBadGovernance protests, demanding a retraction of his claims of torture while in the secret police’s custody.
Aminu, an engineer, was among several individuals detained during the protests, which took place nationwide, including across Kano State and the northern region.
In an interview on Channels TV, Aminu recalled that he was subjected to brutal treatment during his detention in Kaduna.
In a letter dated November 25, 2024, the DSS, through its counsel, Mohammed Sani Ndanusa, SAN, refuted Aminu’s allegations, describing them as false and defamatory.
The letter, titled “Re: Allegation of Torture By Department of State Security Officials While Undertaking Custody in Kaduna,” stated that Aminu’s remarks were a calculated effort to damage the agency’s reputation.
“These allegations are a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts and an attempt to tarnish the hard-earned image of the Department of State Security Services within the professional and public realm,” the letter read.
“You will agree with us that your above representation have caused our client a lot of embarrassment both within and outside Nigeria,” the DSS said and it advised him to “make a retraction and cause same to be published in three widely read newspapers, failure to which we shall be compelled… to initiate legal proceedings against you.”
The Bureau Newspaper had reported that Khalid Aminu, an engineer and one of the 39 suspects arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests in August, shared a heart-wrenching account of his 60-day ordeal in the hands of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Aminu was picked up alongside other young protesters in Kano on August 3, while demonstrating against hunger and bad governance.
He had recounted how DSS operatives blocked them at the NEPA Roundabout, took 11 of them into custody, and subjected him to inhumane torture.
During his detention, Aminu had no contact with his family, and the experience has left him visibly traumatised.
Aminu’s account highlights the disturbing treatment of protesters by security forces.
“They (DSS operatives) blocked all of us at the NEPA Roundabout and packed about 11 of us on the day three of the protests (August 3) and took us to their command,” he recalled slowly with a weak voice, his face still plastered with after-trauma of the episode, signs that he was still recovering from the ordeal in the hands of the secret police.
“They kept me in detention from August 3 to October 17. For the 68 days, I was in the custody of the DSS minus one week when we were taken to the correctional centre after we were taken to court in Kaduna.
“When we were in detention, they kept bringing in more and more people and the number accumulated to about 39 of us.”
Describing as terrible the experience he went through at the hands of the DSS, the protester said, “What I went through, what we went through was inhuman, I can’t even begin to tell you everything.”
