Arik stowaway: Family, rights group appeal to DSS to release detained boy

by Adeola Balogun

A group of people have united to appeal for the release of stowaway teenager Daniel Oikhena, who is still being held by the Department of State Security Services (DSS) in Lagos.

The boy’s family and various rights groups insist that he is only an innocent boy who tried to pursue his dreams and not a criminal and as such he should not be detained as one.

According to reports, a rights group, Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHD) called on the DSS to release the 13-year-old boy to reunite with his family. Similarly, a volunteer group, De Raufs, has also concluded plans to dispatch a team of lawyers to secure the release of the teenage boy, as coordinator of the group, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, said the team of lawyers from Osun State, which would be led by Mr. Yinka Muyiwa, will team up with the Lagos coordinator of the group to secure the boy’s release.

Also, the younger brother of the teenage boy, Desmond Oikhena, who made the appeal, said the family was shocked that their brother was still being detained by the DSS, explaining that that the stowaway is only a young boy who did not even know what he did and not a criminal.

He said: “My brother learnt what he did through films, he watched films a lot and that was why he had problem with my elder sister the night to that his action at the airport.

“We are missing him a lot; we are appealing that he should be released so that he can come and prepare for the coming new school session.

“My brother is not a criminal. He is just a quiet young man who was pursuing his dream of going to America. We thank God he survived the incident so they should allow him come home so that he can go to the hospital for proper medical check up.”

While condemning the continued detention of the boy in Lagos, Comrade Shittu, who reiterated the earlier resolve of the group to award the stowaway teenager scholarship up to university level, queried the continued detention of the boy by the DSS, saying airport officials in Benin were to blame for the security lapses at Benin Airport and not the teenager.

Comments (3)

  1. he could be president someday.. Zik also tried to stow away and just like daniel was apprehended.. Daniel is a hero..

  2. They should leave this innocent boy, nigerian does n,t have security, boy were n,t blame, if it ,s big man son he will collect award for perform an action, As a poor man son he was detained, god is watching. He should,t be worry, God will fulfilled his dreams, he was bore in nigeria by mistake america is your home, thank god is not a DANA airline, God bless nigerians.

  3. Where is human right group? Let dss release dat poor boy,airport security did not do their work well so why holding d boy?

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail