SaharaReporters had reported earlier on Monday that the activist was arrested by the DSS at around 2 a.m. on Monday morning in his home in the Apo area of the FCT.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied the arrest of Michael Lenin, one of the key leaders of #EndBadGovernance protests in the Federal Capital Territory

SaharaReporters had reported earlier on Monday that the activist was arrested by the DSS at around 2 a.m. on Monday morning in his home in the Apo area of the FCT.

But the secret service in a statement posted on its official X account on Monday, denied the arrest of Lenin.

The DSS can confirm that Adaramoye Michael (aka Michael Lenin) is not in its custody,” the service said, even as it noted that it carried out some other arrests, in connection with the ongoing nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance in Nigeria.

The Director of Mobilisation for the Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, had stated that Lenin’s house was raided and he was assaulted during the arrest.

Adenola had said, “Lenin was arrested by the DSS during a raid on his house around 2 a.m.

“He was arrested and tortured in the presence of his family. We are demanding his immediate and unconditional release.”

SaharaReporters had earlier reported that Adaramoye Michael Lenin, National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign, strongly criticised President Tinubu’s speech, describing it as a masterful exercise in gaslighting, manipulation, and doublespeak that has long plagued Nigeria’s public discourse.

Lenin argued that the ongoing protests are a lawful response by the Nigerian people to the Tinubu-led government’s failure to address systemic injustices after over 14 months in power.

He rejected the President’s claim that the protests are driven by a political agenda to destabilise the country, calling it a baseless attempt to discredit the movement by attributing false motives to it.

He said, “These protests were mobilised for by the flagrant extravagance of political office holders in Nigeria for the past 14 months while asking Nigerians to be patient in our hunger and hardship – which they claim to be our sacrifice for the nation.

“It is almost better for the President to have kept silent than make this kind of broadcast in which he continued his attitude of ignoring the legitimate grievances of the Nigerian people, by delegitimising our protests as politically-motivated.”