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).
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of gross medical neglect, intimidation, and an alleged cover-up in the death of Mrs. Calista Ifedi, who died while in detention at the DSS facility in Wawa Barracks.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, via his X (formerly Twitter) account, Sowore alleged that Mrs. Ifedi repeatedly complained of severe chest pains before her death but was denied proper medical care by DSS officials.
“Instead of receiving proper medical attention, she was dismissed, mocked, and occasionally given ulcer medication. Her cries for help were treated as a pretense,” Sowore said, describing what he called “cruel, deliberate, and ultimately fatal” indifference by the security agency.
According to him, the neglect appeared to have been “intended from the inception of her detention,” adding that even when Amnesty International Nigeria intervened and called for her release, the DSS allegedly denied that Mrs. Ifedi was in its custody.
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.
Human rights organisations had raised concerns over her prolonged detention and deteriorating health, alleging that she was denied regular access to her family and independent medical treatment.
In late 2024, reports emerged that Mrs. Ifedi had died while still in DSS custody, triggering public outrage and renewed scrutiny of detention practices within Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency.
Calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances of her death have since intensified, with rights groups citing her case as emblematic of alleged systemic abuses, including secret detentions, medical neglect, and lack of accountability.
Sowore further revealed that he spoke with the Mrs. Ifedi’s daughter, Merit, who expressed shock and grief over her mother’s death in detention.
He recounted that Merit questioned whether it was possible that the woman who raised her would no longer be alive to attend her wedding, describing the conversation as one that exposed “the human cost of Nigeria’s state brutality beyond official statements.”
He also accused the Director General of the DSS, Tosin Ajayi, of allegedly recruiting social media influencers to “defend and sanitize this cruelty against humanity.”
Additionally, Sowore disclosed that the DSS has threatened Mrs. Ifedi’s husband, Sunday Ifedi, warning him not to speak publicly about his wife’s detention or death.
He alleged that the threat was framed as a non-disclosure warning, which he described as “the final cruelty the state seeks to impose after unlawful arrest, prolonged detention, medical neglect, and the death of an innocent food vendor.”
Sowore said the case goes beyond the death of one individual, describing it as “an indictment of a system that dehumanizes, intimidates, and kills, then attempts to bury the truth through fear and official intimidation.”
“Mrs. Calista Ifedi’s life mattered. Her death must not be reduced to a footnote, and her family must not be forced into silence,” he said.
He called for a thorough investigation and accountability, demanding the punishment of all those allegedly involved, including former DSS Director General Yusuf Bichi, former Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN), and any DSS officials who “supervised or enabled” the circumstances that led to Mrs. Ifedi’s death.