The Department of State Service on Monday said that the claim by a former Minister of Education and Bring Back Our Girls campaigner, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, that she was arrested and later released by operatives of the agency amounted to arrogating undue importance to herself.
The spokesperson of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar, said that there was nothing untoward about quizzing Ezekwesili at the airport.
Ogar said it was part of the statutory obligations of the DSS at airports to screen all passengers travelling out and coming into the country.
Ezekwesili had early on Monday raised the alarm via her Twitter handle that operatives of the DSS were about preventing her from travelling out of the country to the United Kingdom.
She was scheduled to appear on a programme of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Hard Talk.
She however made the flight with five minutes left of check-in time.
Ogar, who spoke at the briefing of the National Information Centre in Abuja on Monday, said: “Government has asked the SSS to be at the airport.
“Statutorily, SSS clears all passengers travelling out or coming into this country.
“I don’t know why some people will sometimes arrogate to themselves unnecessary importance when we have serious security challenges in our hands.”
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