The development was disclosed on Saturday by fiery activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, who said the release brings mixed emotions, as Ifedi’s wife remains unaccounted for.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has released an Abia State resident, Callistus Ifedi, who was "abducted" alongside his wife by the DSS in 2021 over alleged involvement with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The development was disclosed on Saturday by fiery activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, who said the release brings mixed emotions, as Ifedi’s wife remains unaccounted for.
According to Sowore, Ifedi regained his freedom on Friday, December 19, 2025, but reported that his wife, who was last seen in 2023 at the Wawa Barracks, has not been released.
Announcing the development, Sowore wrote: "The Department of State Services aka lawless DSS has released Callistus Ifedi, who was arrested with his wife in 2021 for allegedly being a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra, in a development that brings both relief and sadness, particularly as the husband reported that his wife, last seen in 2023 at Wawa barracks, remains missing despite his release yesterday."
He further called for the immediate release of Ifedi’s wife and other detainees allegedly held at the facility.
"The DSS must release Mrs. Ifedi immediately and other Nigerians held illegally at Wawa Barracks! Thank you Amnesty Nigeria
On November 9, 2025 , Sowore, accused the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government for perpetrating what he called “genocide by unlawful detention” through the continued use of Wawa Barracks in Niger State as a secret prison and torture site.
Sowore made the revelation in a post shared on his verified social media pages on Sunday, describing the facility as “a hidden horror” where the Nigerian state has, for years, detained hundreds of citizens incommunicado under inhumane conditions.
He said: “Inside this notorious facility, hundreds are held incommunicado, many accused, without evidence, of being members or sympathisers of IPOB. Federal judges are routinely ferried to Wawa Barracks to conduct secret trials, closed to the public and devoid of transparency.”
The pro-democracy activist also claimed that detainees are routinely denied access to their lawyers and human rights observers, while their families are kept in the dark about their whereabouts."
“Detainees are denied access to lawyers and human rights observers, while their families, unaware of their fate, are left to believe they are either dead or disappeared,” Sowore wrote.
In August 2022, SaharaReporters reported that Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, accused the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of Security Services (DSS), of abducting innocent Nigerians and failing to release them.
The organisation made the accusation in a press statement captioned "Nigeria must Show Genuine Commitment to Ending Enforced Disappearances."
It pointed out that "Families of victims of enforced disappearance let down by authorities; Dadiyata still missing after abduction by gunmen 3-years ago; No accountability for families of victims of enforced disappearance."
According to the statement released by organisation's Nigeria office Director, Osai Ojigho, the Nigerian authorities must show genuine commitment to ending the heinous crime of enforced disappearances, which is still prevalent in the country.
Ojigho said that “When people are arrested by state agents, without any trace of their whereabouts, and the state denies knowledge of where they are, their families are exposed to unthinkable suffering; they find it difficult to move on as they wait each day in anguish, hoping their loved ones’ return.”