Abiri, a journalist, is the publisher of Weekly Source Newspaper, a Bayelsa State-based local tabloid. The DSS had on July 21, 2016, arrested Abiri, alleging that he was a notorious militant leader. The Abuja headquarters of the Service, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Tony Opuiyo, had said Abiri was operating under a pseudonym ‘General’ Akotebe Darikoro. It also said Abiri was the leader of the Joint Niger Delta Revolutionary Council, a militant group which created fear with its threats to release six missiles in the region. The service said Abiri was also behind the claims that the military was planning to overthrow President Muhammadu Buhari through a coup d’état. But Morris, a former Secretary General of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation, in a statement in Yenagoa on Saturday, said he had known Abiri for over 20 years and he had never struck him as a criminal or a militant or belonging to any terrorist organisation.]]>