By Emma Amaize

ASABA—THE Department of State Services, DSS, has arrested the former coordinator of Niger Delta Riverine Protection Programme, Mr Tikari Danjuma, and one of his aides, Jacob Sonoma.

Danjuma, relieved of his job in January by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs on grounds of non-performance, was arrested by a team of four security operatives, who swooped on his Effurun residence in Delta State.

• Rtd Gen. T. Y. Danjuma

Lawyers to Omes Ogedegbe, in a petition to the Director-General, DSS, said, “The continuous detention of our clients since January 9, 2017 amounts to a gross violation of their fundamental rights as the DSS does not have the constitutional enablement to subject our clients to arbitrary arrest and detention at its pleasure,  irrespective of whose complaint the agency is investigating.”

On the charge of impersonation, he said: “Instructively, the issue of impersonation as the son  of Lt. Gen. T.Y Danjuma (retd), is not within the purview of the DSS, hence our demand for the unconditional release of our clients.

“Suffice it to state that the only investigation that can be conducted in this matter is to demand for the conduct of a Deoxyribonucleic Acid, DNA  text which again our client cannot be compelled to do from custody,” he said.

Ogedegbe explained that before his present ordeal, Tikari had traced his paternity to Lt Gen Danjuma (retd) in 2013 and upon the confirmation of his biological root, the mandatory traditional rites were duly performed, both in Delta and Plateau states.

“We therefore, demand the immediate release of our clients without any delay,” Ogedegbe, who is also the national coordinator of the Conference for the Actualization of Human Rights, added.