Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has acknowledged detaining journalist Zainab Sodiq, saying she’s under investigation for flying a drone without proper clearance. The confirmation followed public accusations from AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore and the Take It Back Movement, who say the secret police detained her unlawfully.
According to the DSS, security officials at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport stopped Sodiq on July 6 as she was preparing to fly to Abuja with an unmanned aerial vehicle. She reportedly could not produce the End User Certificate required for drone ownership and operation in Nigeria, and admitted as much when questioned. Despite this, officials let her continue on her scheduled flight since she had a prior commitment, instructing her instead to report to DSS headquarters days later to continue the inquiry. The agency says the probe follows security directives from the National Security Adviser’s office aimed at curbing unauthorized drone use, citing concerns around privacy and public safety, and maintains it is acting lawfully and professionally.
Sowore disputes this version of events entirely. He says the drone — a DJI Mavic Air — is actually his own property, used for years to cover elections and other public events, and that Sodiq was simply the journalist documenting his activities. He claims he personally told DSS staff in Lagos this when the device was confiscated.
Sowore alleges the drone was never really the issue. Instead, he says the real goal was stopping Sodiq from bringing his international passport to Abuja — a document he needed to hand over to court as a condition of bail recently granted to him. Blocking that delivery, he argues, would have derailed his bail process and risked sending him back to Kuje Prison. He says he told her to leave the drone behind and continue on to Abuja given the urgency of getting the passport to court.
Sodiq was later invited to DSS offices in Abuja, ostensibly to sort out the seized equipment, but was detained on arrival, Sowore says. He claims his lawyers reached DSS Director-General Tosin Ajayi, who initially dismissed it as routine screening tied to the drone case — but that the agency’s tone shifted once Sowore began posting about the detention publicly. He alleges DSS leadership grew more focused on his social media exposure than on the legality of holding a Nigerian citizen.
The Take It Back Movement backs Sowore’s account, arguing Sodiq was drawn to Abuja under false pretenses and that her detention is really about pressuring anyone connected to Sowore — reporters, supporters, and critics of the Tinubu administration alike. The group insists that doing journalism, covering opposition politics, or carrying media equipment isn’t a crime, and is demanding Sodiq either be released immediately or formally charged in court.
