Human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that the Department of State Services (DSS) is preparing to arraign detained journalist, Zainab Sodiq, over what he described as an “unknown offence,” intensifying concerns over due process and press freedom in Nigeria.
Sowore made the allegation on Thursday, claiming that the planned prosecution forms part of what he described as a sustained campaign of intimidation and persecution allegedly orchestrated by the Director-General of the DSS, Tosin Ajayi.
According to the activist, information available to him indicates that the secret police intend to take Sodiq before a court without publicly disclosing any specific criminal offence she is alleged to have committed.
“We have been informed that the lawless DSS DG, Tosin Ajayi, now plans to charge journalist Zainab Sodiq to court for an unknown offence,” Sowore said.
He argued that the continued detention of the journalist has little to do with the law but is instead driven by what he described as the DSS chief’s anger over public criticism of the agency’s conduct.
“Her continued detention is essentially about the bruised ego of the DSS DG, who became angry after I exposed the DSS’s abuses and illegal detention of Zainab,” Sowore alleged.
The former presidential candidate maintained that Sodiq’s detention represents an abuse of state power and called for her immediate and unconditional release, insisting that the authorities have failed to present any lawful justification for keeping her in custody.
Sowore also linked the journalist’s arrest to what he described as a wider campaign against him by the DSS following his recent detention at the Kuje Correctional Centre.
He alleged that operatives acting on the instructions of the DSS Director-General attacked him at the premises of the Federal High Court before the agency later claimed it had opened an investigation into the same incident.
“The DG of the lawless DSS, Tosin Ajayi, sent his goons to attack me at the Federal High Court last week. When it backfired, he turned around to claim he was investigating the same attack,” Sowore alleged.
Recounting events after his release from Kuje Prison, Sowore further claimed that the DSS prosecutor handling his case, A.T. Kehinde, SAN, attempted to frustrate his release despite his compliance with the bail conditions ordered by the court.
According to him, officials of the court’s Bail Unit confirmed that he had fulfilled all the requirements, yet the prosecutor allegedly refused to certify his sureties in line with the court’s directive.
“After I spent nine days in Kuje Prison, his prosecutor, A.T. Kehinde, SAN, tried to have me sent back by falsely claiming I had not perfected my bail. When the Bail Unit confirmed that I had met the conditions, he still refused to certify my sureties as requested by the judge,” Sowore claimed.
The activist further alleged that after efforts to return him to prison failed, the DSS shifted its attention to Sodiq, whom he described as the journalist covering his activities.
“When that scheme failed, the DSS arrested Zainab Sodiq, the journalist covering my activities,” he said.
Sowore also claimed to have received intelligence suggesting that plans had already been concluded to ensure his imprisonment irrespective of the legal merits of his defence.
As of the time of filing this report, the Department of State Services had not issued any official statement responding to Sowore’s allegations or confirming whether Zainab Sodiq would be arraigned before a court. The agency has also not publicly disclosed any formal charges against the detained journalist.