Tomi Arayomi, the founder of Restoring Isaachers Generation (RIG), says the State Security Service rounded off and detained him, his wife, and an aide for unknown reasons.

The couple has since fled Nigeria, citing personal safety.

Mr Arayomi issued a statement on the development via his Twitter handle, which saw him, his wife, and an aide detained on Friday. 

He stated that they were arrested by six SSS officers for undisclosed reasons, forced to surrender all their gadgets, and then driven to the agency’s headquarters. 

“Prophetess Tahmar and I would like to express our gratitude for all your prayers and international support during Friday’s ordeal with The DSS. We can confirm that on Good Friday 7th April, we arrived at Abuja to visit one of our branches when we were picked up by about 6 armed agents who did not identify themselves as DSS or any law enforcement agency,” Mr Arayomi said in the statement.

He added, “My wife, myself, and my aide Emmanuel Ezerika were forced to surrender our mobile phones and enter the vehicles where we were taken at considerable speed to what we later learned were DSS HQ. The officers, some of who wore balaclavas, were not immediately recognizable as DSS.” 

According to the statement, the couple and the aide were photographed, fingerprints and data collected, and they were locked inside a room with “no real knowledge as to the grounds for our arrest.” 

Mr Arayomi said that after “a lengthy interrogation, it appears media and social media pressure forced” the SSS to the couple, but the aid remains in the secret police’s custody. He accused the SSS of being “elusive as to his exact” whereabouts. 

He added, “We will not divulge the particulars of the investigation at this point as we are still awaiting the safe release of my aide. Out of concern for my young children and my wife’s well-being, we made the unfortunate decision to leave Nigeria abruptly. This decision did not come lightly but with considerable prayer and counsel from our board, trustees, colleagues in the ministry, and respective families.”

Mr Arayomi said he and his wife could confirm that “we are safe and will continue to work and pray for a new Nigeria” while remaining “resolute that we will return to the nation that we have grown to call our home but for now, we will continue to press, pray and give God no rest until Nigeria becomes a praise in the earth.” 

He explained that he and his spouse did not come to Nigeria under “any illusion of comfort” but were “fully aware of the danger.”

“We want you to know that Tahmar and I remain strong and unwavering in our commitment to Nigeria and the many great leaders we have encountered during our time there,” the pastor added. “We want to thank every leader and friend who reached out, called, texted, posted. We are so grateful. This is not goodbye. This is see you soon! In a new and better Nigeria.”