Nigerian Centre RULAAC Demands Probe After DSS Confirmed Death Of Enugu Woman In Custody
January 14, 2026
The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called for accountability and justice following the confirmed death of Mrs. Calista Ifedi while in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) at Wawa Barracks, Abuja.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Wednesday, RULAAC said the DSS’s acknowledgment that Mrs. Ifedi died in its custody amounted to confirmation of “a grave abuse of power, a flagrant violation of the Constitution, and a tragic failure of the Nigerian state to protect the right to life.”
Mrs. Ifedi was arrested alongside her husband, Mr. Sunday Ifedi, at their home in Enugu on November 23, 2021. RULAAC said her alleged offence was that members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had reportedly purchased food from her restaurant.
“For this, she was violently taken away, detained indefinitely without charge, denied access to court, and disappeared into DSS custody,” the organisation said.
RULAAC noted that sustained advocacy by civil society groups, including Amnesty International Nigeria, later helped establish the circumstances surrounding her arrest and prolonged detention.
Mr. Ifedi, who was released from detention in December 2025, reportedly told rights groups that the last time he saw his wife was in March 2022, when they were transferred from the DSS headquarters to Wawa Barracks. According to RULAAC, the couple was separated upon arrival and never allowed to see each other again. Mr. Ifedi was also never informed of his wife’s death.
The organisation said Mrs. Ifedi became seriously ill during her detention and repeatedly complained of severe chest pains. Rather than receive proper medical care, her complaints were allegedly dismissed and mocked, with only occasional administration of ulcer medication.
“She was left to deteriorate until she died,” RULAAC stated.
The group further accused the DSS of deception, alleging that the agency repeatedly denied holding Mrs. Ifedi in custody even as civil society organisations demanded her release.
RULAAC described the circumstances surrounding her death as constituting unlawful detention, enforced disappearance, torture through medical neglect, and extrajudicial killing—acts it said are prohibited under Nigerian and international law.
The organisation also expressed concern over allegations that the DSS issued non-disclosure threats to Mr. Ifedi following his release, warning him not to speak publicly about his detention or the circumstances of his wife’s death.
Reacting to the case, RULAAC Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, described Mrs. Ifedi as “an innocent civilian—an ordinary food vendor—whose life was unlawfully taken by an agency mandated to protect national security, not destroy lives.”
“Accountability for her death is not optional; it is a legal and moral obligation,” he said.
RULAAC called for the immediate public disclosure of the circumstances surrounding Mrs. Ifedi’s detention and death, the release of her remains for an independent autopsy, and an impartial investigation into the DSS, including officials in the chain of command.
The group also demanded the closure of Wawa Barracks as a detention facility and protection for the Ifedi family from intimidation or reprisals.
“Justice delayed must not become justice denied,” Nwanguma said, pledging the organisation’s solidarity with the family and other victims of secret detention and state brutality in Nigeria.