Nigeria's DSS arrests media aide amid growing banditry and cybercrime concerns

Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, a founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum, said his son Salihu Tanko Yakasai – the special adviser on media to Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf – was taken into custody by the Department of State Services (DSS) on a Friday while on his way to a barbing salon. The arrest follows the younger Yakasai’s public criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari over the wave of school‑children abductions and his previous suspension in 2020 for similar comments. His whereabouts remain unconfirmed, though a governor’s aide later confirmed the detention at a DSS office.

During a DSS North‑West Zonal Directors’ Conference in Kano, the agency warned that banditry, arms trafficking, cybercrime, illegal mining and sabotage of critical assets are escalating in the region. Kano State Director Abubakar Hussaini urged intensified collaboration among security agencies, while Governor Yusuf pledged logistical support and highlighted a recent intelligence‑led rescue of a local government secretary. The meeting underscored the DSS’s commitment to coordinated intelligence sharing across the North‑West states.