The Department of State Services (DSS) has finally released the Abuja bureau chief of Daily Independent newspaper, Tony Ezimakor, after seven days of holding him incommunicado.
The nation’s secret police had detained Ezimakor, demanding the sources of a story he wrote recently.
In the story, Ezimakor had detailed how the Federal Government paid millions of dollars to secure the release of 82 Chibok girls, including the role played by the Swiss government in the deal that led to the release of the girls.
According to reports, the story had embarrassed the Swiss government, which demanded to know how the story made its way out to the pages of newspapers.
Ezimakor last Wednesday honoured an invitation extended to him by the DSS, only to be held by the agency.
However, many civil society organisations had demanded that Ezimakor be released or charged to court.
His employers, Daily Independent, also called on DSS to charge Ezimakor to court, maintaining that he would not disclose his sources.
But the senior journalist was allowed to leave DSS office around 10.30pm on Tuesday alongside his lawyer, Douglas Ekhator.