Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has released journalist Zainab Sodiq after holding her for three days, but the agency is refusing to hand back her phones, a drone, and other equipment, according to SaharaReporters.
Sodiq, who has been reporting on activist and AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, was picked up after security operatives found her with a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone that belongs to Sowore. Reports indicate the DSS’s Director-General, Tosin Ajayi, was directly involved in overseeing her detention.
Sources say the agency’s leadership was unhappy about SaharaReporters’ coverage accusing the DSS of rights violations, as well as mounting public criticism over its prosecution of Sowore for calling President Bola Tinubu “a criminal.”
Sodiq walked free on Friday night with no charges filed against her, but the DSS has kept four of her mobile phones along with other devices she uses for her reporting. She says officials told her the items won’t be returned until she satisfies additional conditions that haven’t been specified. The agency is also holding onto the drone, arguing it was brought into Nigeria illegally.
Human rights lawyers and press freedom groups have criticized the continued seizure, saying it raises real questions about due process and the use of security powers against journalists doing their jobs. They argue that holding onto her equipment amounts to ongoing interference with her work and a violation of her constitutional rights.
Sodiq’s detention had already triggered a wave of condemnation from journalists, civil society groups — including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International Nigeria — and the public both in Nigeria and abroad, with many calling for her unconditional release.
Sowore announced her release in a statement Friday, framing it as a win against repression brought about by sustained public pressure. He thanked a number of people and organizations for their advocacy, including human rights lawyer Femi Falana, IPI’s Musikilu Mojeed, lawyer Marshal D. F. Abubakar, activist Deji Adeyanju, Amnesty International Nigeria, the Take-It-Back Movement, and journalists and citizens who kept up the pressure for her freedom.
