Human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has levelled serious allegations against the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Tosin Ajayi, accusing him of orchestrating the continued detention of journalist Zainab Sodiq as part of a calculated effort to frustrate the perfection of his bail and engineer his return to prison.
In a strongly worded statement, Sowore dismissed the DSS’s explanation for Sodiq’s arrest, describing the agency’s account as a fabricated narrative designed to justify what he called an unlawful abuse of state power. The activist insisted that the journalist was never arrested because she was found in possession of a drone, contrary to the security agency’s public claims.
According to Sowore, Sodiq became a target solely because of her professional relationship with him and her role in covering his activities as a journalist.
“Contrary to the hurriedly put together fable by the lawless DSS about the circumstances of journalist Zainab Sodiq’s unlawful detention, she was not arrested and detained because of any drone,” Sowore said.
“She was targeted because the DG of the lawless DSS, Tosin Ajayi, knew that she worked with me and had been after her for some time. I had publicly disclosed this concern months ago.”
Sowore disclosed that the DJI Mavic Air drone at the centre of the controversy belongs to him personally and has been used over the years for legitimate journalistic assignments, including election monitoring and the coverage of public events.
He explained that when DSS operatives seized the drone from Sodiq at the domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport while she was travelling to Abuja, he immediately contacted DSS personnel in Lagos to clarify ownership of the equipment.
“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 stated.
The activist further alleged that the situation worsened after he publicly disclosed Sodiq’s detention through his social media platforms, claiming that officials within the DSS became more concerned about the publicity surrounding the arrest than the legality of the journalist’s continued detention.
“We were later told that the DSS leadership was angry because I had publicly exposed Zainab’s unlawful detention via social media posts. 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,” Sowore said.
“This is what happens when personal ego is placed above citizens’ fundamental rights.”
Sowore argued that the detention reflects what he described as a growing pattern of intimidation against journalists, activists and government critics, accusing security agencies of increasingly deploying state institutions to suppress dissent.
“Of course, this is part of a broader pattern of impunity: repression of critics, harassment of journalists and activists, and the use of state institutions against citizens who challenge those in power,” he said.
“To Tosin Ajayi and those operating this machinery of repression, Nigeria appears to be the private property of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is not. Nigeria belongs to the Nigerian people, and no amount of intimidation, detention, propaganda, or repression will change that.”
The activist also launched a personal attack on the DSS Director-General, accusing him of allowing personal ego to override constitutional rights and alleging that public resources were being misused to reward loyalists and suppress dissent.
Sowore further alleged that Ajayi sought public recognition through questionable means and accused him of undermining democratic institutions by using state power against perceived opponents.
The allegations have added to the ongoing debate over press freedom, human rights and the conduct of Nigeria’s security agencies. At the time of filing this report, the Department of State Services had not issued an official response to Sowore’s latest claims, while the agency’s earlier position maintained that Sodiq’s arrest was connected to the seizure of a drone during a security operation.
The case has continued to attract widespread attention from civil society organisations, media rights advocates and legal observers, many of whom have called for transparency in the handling of the journalist’s detention and for due process to be strictly observed.