MY 11 DAYS ENCOUNTER WITH THE DSS: How I Went, Saw, Returned Victorious.

Precious Eze.

The impression some of us have about the Department of State Services, otherwise known as the DSS or the State Security Services, SSS of brutality, force, killings, illegal arrests, brutality and induced injections on individuals whom they arrest for whatever reason but I had a very different experience entirely.

Just about the time of writing this story, my small apartment was invaded at past 1am as i walked in on them at the entrance of my compound in Gbagada.

Throughout the whole of the 11th of December, we had no electricity and I had my brother/cum super friend, Udoka Mbamalu and a church member, Destiny who had come from school to celebrate his Christmas in Lagos. The heat was much as it is expected of Lagos and as I made to rest my head for the night, Ikeja Electric restored the light.

When the light returned, I decided to get water pumped for the whole compound as I wasn't sure there will be light in the morning to pump and I made to go to the location of the pumping machine, I met heavily armed men at the gate discussing with my very good man Landlord who was questioning them and trying to know whom they were looking for and why.

As I walked in on them, one of them asked if I was Chinonso and I politely said yes, but Precious Eze is what I am known and he said I should lead them to my house, which I did and when we got to my apartment, my friend Udoka was already sleeping in my room while Destiny was in the living room. I had to go wake Udoka up and he was terrified, thinking they were armed rubbers, being that I had had an armed robber invasion during the EndSars.

Udoka woke up very afraid and terrified and next, he started looking for where to hide my work tools like my phones and my laptop. The men numbering over 10 in the house and looking fierce and mean started ransacking my house while looking for my hidden work tools and that made one of the officers in anger, gave Udoka a very HUGE SLAP because he woke by force and thought those in the house were armed robbers.

So, they took all my gadgets including my laptop bag and walked me out of the house into their waiting Hilux van, numbering over more than 10 and they drove me to their Lagos office, but one thing striking about our drive to CMD Road where their office is located is that as they blindfolded me and drove through all the rout on the mainland before arriving at their office and as someone who live on the mainland, I knew all the rout they took before arriving our final destination which was their CMD Road office.

When we arrived their office, all my gadgets were brought out for me to identify and register and one by one, every item in the laptop bag was brought out, registered and recorded. I was also searched (maybe to be sure I wasn't carrying a weapon as someone who was picked up at 1am as he was about to go to sleep) and I was ushered into the waiting lounge of the DSS in Lagos handcuffed like a kidnapper or an armed robber caught in the act of rubbing a bank, which was where I slept for the 4 or 5 days I was there before I was eventually transferred to Enugu office from where my original arrest order emanated from.

Still at the Lagos office, and from the very first time I entered the Hilux Van and when the driver of the van conveying started talking about me writing, I knew the arrest must be from Enugu State as he said something like, "People Go Dey Their Own Una Go Dey Look For Their Trouble Sey Una Be Writer, Just Wait, U Go Write Tire" and when he finished saying that, he turned to me to say, "Oga, No Worry, You Dey Fine" but I had had the premonition that I was going to be arrested, I had it mentioned to my Landlord's wife who is my friend and she waved it aside and had dramatized between myself, my friend, Udoka and my little brother, Uchenna when I told Uche to call Udoka and inform him that I had been arrested by the same people who ordered my actual arrest and we just laughed about it.

Back to the DSS office in Lagos where I stayed for 5 days, the real morning of my arrest, someone was put in charge of my care, he took me to what looked like a clinic of the office where I met a female nurse before the female doctor resumed. I was asked questions about my health and my blood pressure was examined and it was discovered that my pressure was 180/120, the doctor immediately requested for drugs which was administered on me to calm the pressure and it became my routine every morning.

I actually have an impression about the operation in the Lagos office but I'll skip that to another time, especially with the way and manner officers of the DSS were happy to narrate their frolicking with politicians and how they were preparing to attend their end of the year parties to go collect bags of rice and other souvenirs. That would be for another time.

So, on Saturday morning, as early as 4am or thereabout, the waiting lounge door was opened and some guys came in with handcuffs to take me, then I requested to be allowed to brush my mouth and was obliged. When I was done brushing, one of them came close and told me politely that we were embarking on a very far journey (which I knew was Enugu) and that they had to cuff me, both hands and legs, as though I was a direct descendant of LAWRENCE ANINI, DERICO OYENUSI OR ISIAKA MIGHTY JOE BUSARI, some of the hardened famous armed robbers.

I allowed them cuff me and I entered the waiting van and the journey to Enugu began. The truth us that I enjoyed the convoy ride from my house in Lagos as the last time I was driven in a convoy was my big sister and darling friend, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari was the acting MD of the NDDC, so it was fun to be driven in a convoy that had over 10 cars both in front and at the back. 

So, that ride brought back memories of fun but the driver that drove us to Enugu with 3 other people drove as though he was given an assignment to drive all of us, including himself and the 3 other officers to our death and to be since, I doubt if we drove close to 5 or 6 hours before we got to Enugu from Lagos. Infact, I practically had my heart in my hands to the extent that I had to ask for my BP drugs to be given to be so I don't pass out in the car out of fear.

It was when I got to Enugu that I was given an option of choice of where I wanted cuffed, either the hand or the leg and I choose the hands so I could move freely and I was put in their conference hall with a Vitafoam as my mattrass for as long as I was going to stay.

That day being the 16th of December, I could not eat anything excerpt for the banana one of the officers bought on the road that he gave me and brought me a bag of pure water with toothpaste and a brush and the investigation began on Monday being the 18th of December, because the next day after I was brought was a Sunday,

Sincerely, and I don't if what people said about the treatment I received was peculiar to me, but I was treated with utmost respect in Enugu, my health was given major priority, when I complained about a headache, a health practitioner was brought to check both my BP and sugar, but my freedom was taken from me.

I was questioned, interrogated, and interviewed like I would do to people, my phones were searched thoroughly, same with my tablet, but nobody touched me, bullied or even went as far as pushing me, why would anybody even do that to me? I obeyed everything, obliged everything, gave every information as asked, I never raised an eyelid to them, I'm never a violent person from birth, so even coming to pick me at the middle of the night wasn't necessary at all because, all the DSS needed was to either call me (since they tracked me with my phone number) or sent a letter of invitation and I would have gladly made myself available, even if they wanted to take me to Zamfara State.

All the drama about sending more that 50 men to arrest a harmless Precious Eze was totally a waste of resources to me ooooo because if invited, I would have gone to them myself but maybe, now with my lawyer, which they wouldn't have wanted to happen in the first place.

The DSS officer in charge of my case in Enugu was very kind to me as he was extremely very polite in all his approaches and like I said earlier, I don't know if their show of kindness was peculiar to me in particular, but yes, they were, his 2YC as he called him was the same as himself but to crown it all, the Director for the DSS in Enugu was the best of them all to the extent that I had to threaten my Big Sister, Ibim Semenitari that I was gonna replace her with the Director.

Maybe, like other women in my life who love me endlessly, the Director of the DSS in Enugu saw me and loved me like her son too, then decided to intervene on my matter with the state government. In fact, it was through her I learnt there had been a search for me on Social Media and I wish to say thank you to her through this medium. She even made sure I got back to Lagos in peace.

Did I talk about the food I ate in Enugu? That was my only complaint apart from my freedom that was taken.

For those who know me, they know that I cook extremely very well and that I experiment with food a lot, which was one of the major threats I gave to Mrs. Ibim Semenitari that all I needed for the Director of the DSS in Enugu to love me was to make Atama Soup for her with a touch of Uziza just the way she (Mrs. Ibim) likes it and I am gone. That is how much I love food but what I and others were given in Enugu ehen......NO WAY......Eba with Okro made with Oha as breakfast with no strand of fish or meat contentiously till one officer decided to give me a treat by buying me Singaporian Rice the day the cuff was removed from my hands.

At the long run, the matter that took me to Enugu was resolved courtesy, the Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency, Peter Mba who seemingly wasn't interested in pressing charges against me, then, the Director of the DSS in Enugu who intervened to calm the nerves of the Governor.

The truth is, the impression we, the Nigerian citizens have of the DSS is not exactly what it is actually or like I pointed out earlier, mine was a peculiar case, which may have been the reason I was treated the way I was, because as I returned, questions started flying from all cylinders, enquiring if I was injected and given some substances to drink, about the food, the water, etc and I did my best to inform every =one that asked that I was ok.

This is the story of my ordeal with the DSS, but I won't end this without sending my profound gratitude to the former Vice President and PDP's Presidential Candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who without knowing who I am, spared time to champion the cause for my release on his Twitter handle.

I would like to appreciate Nollywood Actor, Sylvester Madu who came forward to sign my bail bond, took me to his house, gave me a change of clothes both for my stay and for my return to Lagos. His wife and my friend, Ify fed me till I became fat overnight to replenish all I lust in detention.

I appreciate my own brother, Mr. Christopher Anyanwu and his darling wife, Grace, the National President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN, Dr. Pretty Okafor, the Governor of PMAN Lagos State and my darling Abia sister, Aralola Olamuyiwa, ARA, the National President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Dr. Emeka Rollas-Ejezie, the Director of News, TVC, Mrs. Stella Din-Jacos, the Managing Director of TVC Entertainment, Mrs. Morayo Afolabi-Brown, former MD of NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, former MD of Global Excellence Magazine, Mrs. Tosin Ajayi, Deputy Director, News, Arise News, Ohi Odiai, members of the Society of Digital Newspaper Owners of Nigeria, SDNON, the entire Arise News crew, the entire crew of African Independent Television, AIT led by Mrs. Tonia Uju-Ejeye, former Senior Special Assistant to the Deputy Senate President, Madam Lara Wise, Ojy Okpe of Arise, Ngozi Alaegbu, DG of the Imo State Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, Ify Onyegbule, Gbenga Ashiru, all the newscasters at TVC, former GM, NTA Channel 10 Lagos, Mrs. Helen Odeleye, Nollywood actors, Mummy Ngozi Nwosu, Maureen Solomon-Okereke (who actually drove to my house immediately she heard), Thelma Chukwunyem, Dr. Shuiabu Hussenni,  all the bloggers and online platforms who carried my story, Mr. Isaac Umunna, Seunmanuel Faleye, my special friend and brother from Yoruba Land, my Landlord and his wife, the list is endless, including those who shared my story on all the platforms they belong, thank you. I am beyond words but I appreciate everybody, including those I may not have remembered here.

And for those who were busy spreading the story that "Precious Eze's Blog" was into blackmail journalism, thank you too because, you all contributed to my new celebrity status as I was arrested in my Gbagada-Lagos home as Ojy Okpe said in a story on me on her "What's Trending" segment on The Morning Show on Arise News, I'm sorry but no, I don't engage in blackmail journalism and my records speaks for me.

I only published a story on the Governor of Enugu State as you can read here https://www.preciouseze.com/2023/12/reveation-sex-scandal-rocks-governor.html and it was never a blackmail story or anything of the sort but I appreciate everybody.

My only wish is for the DSS to do better by employing the INVITATION strategy next time before employing force for someone next time and this is my story for now.

Did I mention that it was the Director of the DSS in Enugu that paid my flight back to Lagos after I was released and bail bond signed by Nollywood Actor, Slyvester Madu.