Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Human rights activist and presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of unlawfully detaining journalist Zainab Sodiq, claiming the real motive was to prevent her from delivering his international passport to court and frustrate his bail conditions, while the secret police insists she is being investigated for operating a drone without the required authorisation.
Sodiq, a journalist who has covered Sowore's activities, was arrested on July 8, 2026, at the DSS headquarters in Abuja. According to multiple reports, she was invited to Abuja by a DSS operative identified only as "Musa" to retrieve a drone that had been seized from her while she covered Sowore at the Lagos domestic airport. After arriving in Abuja, she became unreachable, with her last known location traced to Yakubu Gowon Crescent in the Federal Capital Territory.
In a statement issued on Thursday, July 9, 2026, the DSS confirmed Sodiq's detention, stating that she was intercepted by FAAN Aviation Security and DSS operatives at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on July 6, 2026, while attempting to board a flight to Abuja with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) without an End User Certificate (EUC). The agency said she admitted not having the required documents but was allowed to board her flight and directed to report to its headquarters on Wednesday for further investigation. "This action is necessitated by global and domestic security concerns associated with operation of drones, especially issues of privacy breaches and safety of individuals," the DSS stated.
Sowore, however, has vehemently rejected the DSS's explanation. He insisted that the DJI Mavic Air drone in question belonged to him personally and had been used for media coverage of elections and other public events. When DSS personnel seized the drone from Sodiq at the Lagos airport, Sowore said he spoke with them directly and explained that the drone was his and that Sodiq was a journalist covering his activities.
According to Sowore, the real objective was to prevent Sodiq from delivering his international passport to Abuja to enable him to perfect the bail recently granted to him by Justice M.G. Umar of the Federal High Court. "The real objective was to prevent Zainab from reaching Abuja with my international passport, frustrate the perfection of my bail, and create an excuse to send me back to the overcrowded Kuje Prison," he alleged.
Sowore further alleged that after Sodiq became unreachable, his lawyer, Marshal Abubakar, visited the DSS headquarters to inquire about her release but was reportedly informed that the Director-General of the DSS, Tosin Ajayi, was unhappy that Sowore had publicly raised concerns over her arrest and had consequently ordered that she remain in custody. "The latest update is that human rights lawyer Marshal D. F. Abubakar visited lawless DSS headquarters this evening but was told the DG of lawless DSS, Tosin Ajayi, is upset that I posted about their illegal arrest of Zainab Sodiq and as such they will no longer release her!" Sowore wrote.
The Take It Back Movement has strongly condemned the arrest and detention of Sodiq, describing the action as unlawful and a dangerous assault on press freedom, democracy, and human rights. In a statement, the group said Sodiq was arrested solely for carrying out her professional responsibility as a journalist covering the public activities of Sowore. "The arrest of journalists for simply documenting events is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes. It has no place in a democratic society," the movement stated.
As of the time of filing this report, the DSS had not indicated when Sodiq would be released or whether she would be charged to court. The incident has once again raised questions about the balance between national security regulations and the fundamental rights of journalists to carry out their professional duties without harassment or arbitrary detention. The DSS is currently prosecuting Sowore over social media posts in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as "a criminal," and Sowore and his supporters have repeatedly accused the secret police of targeting individuals associated with his political and human rights activities.
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