According to the family, the DSS quietly obtained a 30-day remand order from a court to detain him, a development they said they only discovered recently.
The family of detained Delta State-born lawyer, Moses Oddiri, has raised the alarm over the illegal and prolonged detention of their father by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The family noted that the agency is holding him despite the expiration of a 30-day court-granted warrant.
According to the family, the DSS quietly obtained a 30-day remand order from a court to detain him, a development they said they only discovered recently.
“We learned that DSS had a 30-day warrant obtained by a court for my father’s detention,” a family source told SaharaReporters on Thursday.
“That 30-day period has already expired, yet he has not been charged in court, and DSS is still holding him.”
The family source described the continued detention as unconstitutional and a violation of Oddiri’s fundamental rights.
“Today makes it 31 days. Tomorrow will make it 32 days in detention without trial, which is a direct violation of the Constitution,” the family member said.
According to the family source, the situation has sparked widespread concern in Orogun, Oddiri’s hometown, where traditional leaders and community groups have publicly rallied behind him.
“In the last few days, the Orogun community leadership has publicly come out in full support of my father,” the family source added.
“The king, chiefs, elders, youth leaders, and multiple community organisations have all openly stated that my father acted on their mandate.”
The family demanded Oddiri’s immediate release or his arraignment before a competent court.
SaharaReporters had reported that Oddiri’s family had raised the alarm after he went missing while in the custody of the DSS.
His younger brother, Doro Oddiri, appealed for public intervention, accusing security agencies of withholding critical information about the detainee’s fate.
SaharaReporters reported on November 26, 2025, that the DSS had quietly moved the detained Oddiri from its Lagos facility to the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, without notifying his family.
According to his son, Solomon Oddiri, the family only learned from an inside source that the lawyer had been transferred to Abuja.
“I received information that my dad had been moved secretly from the DSS detention center in Lagos to Abuja,” he said.
Sources had told SaharaReporters that Oddiri’s arrest was connected to a petition he submitted to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) in London, alleging that EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede diverted community development funds belonging to the Orogun Oil Producing Community in Delta State, which Oddiri had represented for years.
“Moses has been fighting for a community that has suffered injustice for decades,” a source said.
“He involved the EFCC Chairman to help address the issue, but instead, the Chairman allegedly collaborated with those perpetrating the injustice and diverted the funds. Because Moses petitioned against him, he was arrested.”
The crisis stems from a long-running dispute involving over N4billion in statutory community development payments allegedly owed to the Orogun community by Heritage Energy Operational Services Ltd.
Community representatives, including Moses and Andrew Oddiri, Ovoke Akpobor, and Favor Aduku, petitioned the EFCC in July 2024 to probe the missing funds.
Sources claimed that the EFCC chairman later told petitioners that over N4 billion had been recovered and placed under an EFCC lien, yet he refused to disclose the signatories to the account or convene a promised stakeholders’ meeting.
“This is a clear case of collusion between the EFCC chairman and the Heritage MD to misappropriate funds intended for Orogun,” a source said.
“The recovery of over four billion naira for Orogun has effectively been stolen, and the EFCC is now attempting to cover up by confusing it with payments meant for other communities.”
SaharaReporters had earlier reported irregularities, including a January 31, 2025, payment of N4.1 billion to the Uherieve Host Community, which the EFCC allegedly obtained evidence for months after Olukoyede claimed to have recovered funds for Orogun.
Meanwhile, neither the DSS nor the EFCC has issued a public statement regarding Moses Oddiri’s detention or the family’s claims.
Human rights organisations have warned that disappearances or prolonged incommunicado detentions violate Nigerian and international law, including constitutional guarantees to access legal representation and information about one’s detention.
SaharaReporters reports that families of detainees held by the DSS have often struggled to access information about their relatives.