Ms Zainab Sodiq, a journalist who covers the daily activities of Mr Omoyele Sowore, activist, publisher of Sahara Reporters, and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), was reportedly arrested on July 8, 2026, by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency, after she was invited to Abuja to collect her drone, which had earlier been seized from her.
She was then detained incommunicado at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The online news portal, Sahara Reporters, reported that the secret police had earlier seized the journalist’s drone while she was covering Sowore’s activities at the domestic airport in Lagos. The agency subsequently contacted and asked her to come to Abuja to retrieve the seized drone from a DSS officer identified only as Musa.
Sahara Reporters said, however, after arriving in Abuja to collect the equipment, she reportedly became unreachable, with her last known location traced to the Yakubu Gowon Crescent area of Abuja.
Mr Omoyele accused the DSS of targeting people associated with his political and human rights activities through surveillance, harassment, detention and intimidation. He said Zainab was detained because she covers his activities.
The DSS later defended Zainab’s detention, claiming that she is under investigation for allegedly travelling with a drone without the documentation required under Nigerian regulations.
In a statement issued on July 9, the agency said she came to its attention on July 6, after officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Aviation Security (FAAN AVSEC), working alongside its operatives, intercepted her at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos while she was travelling to Abuja with an unmanned aerial vehicle.
The statement by SSS spokesperson, Favour Dozie, posted to X via the agency’s handle claimed that Ms Sodiq was intercepted on July 6 by aviation security officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and SSS operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, while travelling to Abuja with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone.
According to the agency, Ms Sodiq did not possess an End User Certificate (EUC), a document required under national security regulations governing the acquisition and use of drones in Nigeria, authorising her to use the device.
The DSS then released Ms Sodiq on the night of July 10, 2026, without charging her to court. The agency, however, did not release the four mobile phones and other devices, including the DJI Mavic Air 2 drone, which the agency claims was illegally imported into Nigeria.
Media reports say the agency informed her that her devices would not be returned unless she complied with additional, unspecified procedures.
