The DSS has officially confirmed that Mrs. Ifedi, who had been detained since November 2021, died while in custody at Wawa Barracks, Niger State.
A young woman, Idara Gold, has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of deliberately denying Mrs. Calista Ifedi proper medical care, alleging that this neglect ultimately led to her death while in custody.
Idara made the claims on X (formerly Twitter), disputing the DSS’s assertion that Mrs. Ifedi died from illness.
The DSS has officially confirmed that Mrs. Ifedi, who had been detained since November 2021, died while in custody at Wawa Barracks, Niger State.
According to Idara, who was detained alongside her, Mrs. Ifedi repeatedly complained of deteriorating health, but her pleas were allegedly ignored by DSS officials.
Mrs. Ifedi, a food vendor and mother of four, was arrested and detained by operatives of the DSS in 2021, and accused of being a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
She was arrested alongside her husband, Sunday Ifedi, at their home on November 23, 2021.
According to her husband, who was only released in December 2025, the couple’s detention was arbitrary, with no formal charges filed against them.
She was subsequently held at the DSS detention facility in Wawa Barracks, Abuja, where she remained in custody for several months without access to adequate legal and medical care.
Sunday Ifedi revealed that the last time he saw his wife was in March 2022, when they were taken from DSS headquarters to Wawa Barracks and separated.
“You claim she died of sickness, how many times she complained of her health issues that you guys responded to? It started with an ulcer,” Idara wrote on X.
Idara further alleged that when medication was eventually provided, it was done reluctantly and inadequately.
@OfficialDSSNG
You claim she died of sickness okwaya
How many times she complained of her health issues that you guys responded to
It started with ulcer
You guys reluctantly gave her drugs
Emphasis on "reluctancy "
Even gestid was difficult to find
This woman keeps crying… https://t.co/ri7F5XUUhA— Idara_Gold (@gold_idara) January 13, 2026
“You guys reluctantly gave her drugs. Emphasis on ‘reluctancy’. Even Gestid was difficult to find,” the post read.
According to Idara, Mrs. Ifedi’s condition deteriorated as she allegedly cried out in pain every day and night, before detainees were transferred to the DSS facility at Wawa Barracks, a move the user suggested compounded her ordeal.
Idara also called on the DSS to release Mrs. Ifedi’s body to her family, insisting that the agency should be held responsible for her death.
“This woman keeps crying every day and night till you guys pushed us to Wawa barracks,” she wrote.
“Which that one is another story to tell. @OfficialDSSNG release her body for the family.”
In another post, Idara said, “@OfficialDSSNG God punish you all. I said it yes.”
“You are responsible for the death of mummy Calista,” Idara stated, using strong language to condemn the security agency.
“When you arrested us. You already knew what you wanted.”
In 2022, SaharaReporters reported how Idara from Akwa Ibom State had been unlawfully arrested and detained in Enugu by the DSS.
Her crime was wearing a Biafra-themed outfit, it was learnt.
According to reports, she was accosted by the police on November 8, 2021, in Enugu. The policemen were said to have browsed through her phone.
"When they saw a picture she had posted online wearing a Biafran attire to celebrate her 20th birthday, she was arrested and handed over to DSS in Enugu from where she was transferred to DSS Headquarters, Abuja.
"Since November 8th, 2021 to this day, the DSS has denied her access to her lawyer, family and friends, and have not charged her with any offence," a human rights activist, Osimond Ugwu had told SaharaReporters.
Ugwu stated that when her family approached an Abuja High Court seeking enforcement of her fundamental rights, DSS filed an affidavit, claiming that they had concluded their investigation into the matter in January 2022.
In the affidavit obtained by SaharaReporters, the DSS told the court that it had transferred her to a military barracks in Kainji, Niger State, in February and her case file had been transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice.