Sowore Alleges Plot as DSS Detains Journalist
The detention of a journalist attached to opposition figure Omoyele Sowore has opened a fresh dispute between the Department of State Services and civil rights campaigners, with the security agency insisting the matter is a straightforward regulatory breach while Sowore maintains it is a calculated move to frustrate his ongoing court case.
The journalist, Zainab Sodiq, is being held at the DSS National Headquarters in Abuja. In a statement issued on Thursday by its Deputy Director, Public Relations and Strategic Communications, Favour Dozie, the service said Sodiq was intercepted on July 6, 2026 by its operatives and officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Aviation Security at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, as she prepared to board a flight to Abuja carrying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
According to the agency, Sodiq could not produce an End User Certificate, a document required under regulations issued by the Office of the National Security Adviser governing the acquisition and operation of drones in Nigeria. The DSS said she admitted she was not in possession of the certificate but was allowed to travel because of a prior engagement, on the understanding that she would report to its headquarters for further questioning.
“Service investigation has commenced. 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 statement read. The agency added that it remained committed to professionalism and the rule of law, noting that existing rules empower it to impound and sanction anyone transporting Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems without authorisation.
Sowore, the African Action Congress presidential candidate in the 2023 election, gave a sharply different account. In a statement on Thursday, he said the DJI Mavic Air drone cited by the DSS was his personal property and had been used for media coverage of elections and other public events. “I explained that the drone was mine, that Zainab was a journalist covering my activities, and that it was a commercial media drone I had used to cover elections and other public events,” he said.
He alleged the drone seizure was a pretext, claiming the real intent was to stop Sodiq from delivering his international passport to Abuja. That passport, he said, was needed in court to perfect the bail granted him by Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court. Court records show the judge, on June 30, admitted Sowore to bail of N200m with two sureties and ordered him to deposit his international passport with the Deputy Chief Registrar. The condition arose from a two count cybercrime charge filed by the DSS, which accuses him of describing President Bola Tinubu as “a criminal” in posts on his X and Facebook accounts. He has pleaded not guilty.
That case has already seen Sowore remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre after his earlier bail was revoked on June 16 and a bench warrant issued when he missed a hearing. He was released to his legal team on June 30 pending the opening of his defence.
Sowore further alleged that lawyers acting for him spoke with the DSS Director-General, Tosin Ajayi, who initially described Sodiq’s detention as a “routine screening” over the drone before the position hardened. “Instead of addressing the legality of holding a Nigerian citizen, the concern of Tosin Ajayi became that I had posted about it on social media,” he claimed.
The Take It Back Movement, which Sowore leads, alleged Sodiq was lured to Abuja on the promise of retrieving her equipment before being detained. “A journalist carrying out her lawful duty is not a criminal. Covering the activities of an opposition figure is not a crime. Possessing media equipment is not a crime. Asking questions is not a crime. Reporting the truth is not a crime,” the group said, calling on the DSS to either release her or charge her before a competent court.
The confrontation lands at a moment of recurring friction between the Nigerian state and the press. Media rights groups have for years catalogued the arrest and brief detention of reporters, and Sowore himself has a long history of run-ins with security agencies dating back to his 2019 detention following the RevolutionNow protests. As of the time of filing, the DSS had not responded publicly to the specific allegation that the detention was tied to Sowore’s bail conditions, and the claims by both sides remain untested.