Nigeria’s Department of State Security broke its silence concerning the arrest and detention of the ‘jailbreak tweeter’, Yusuf Onimisi, stating that he had “peddled falsehood” for money.
Onimisi, who tweeted photos of an attempted jail break at the agency’s headquarters, from his Twitter handle (@Ciaxon), was said to have ‘disappeared’ and was unreachable to his friends and relatives, who had been informed by colleagues that Onimisi was with the DSS.
The detention had sparked an outcry on Twitter as Nigerians demanded his release through a twitter campaign tagged #FreeCiaxon followed by demonstrations in some cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Kano and Kaduna, which ultimately secured his release after 12 days.
Although the DSS had reportedly denied having the tweeter in custody, the Deputy Director, Public Relations of the Department of State Security (DSS), Marilyn Ogar, on Wednesday said the agency should not be expected to turn away from the offence as a result of the offender’s ignorance.
According to her, Onimisi had got the “pictures of security men undergoing security operations” owing to his proximity to the scene of the incident.
“He got those pictures and began to peddle falsehood with such pictures,” she said, adding that “when he was brought in, he (now) said (well) he was doing it for pecuniary reasons.”
She wondered why he would “mortgage the security of the nation because of some new Naira notes.”