RismadarVoice Reporters
August 3, 2026
An investigative journalist, Zainab Sodiq, has instituted a fundamental rights enforcement suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Department of State Services (DSS), its Director-General and a DSS operative, Abdulwahab Habib, seeking ₦4 billion in damages over her alleged unlawful arrest, detention and continued seizure of her professional equipment.
In the suit, Sodiq alleged that she was arrested after aviation security officials intercepted her at the airport while travelling from Lagos to Abuja with a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone and handed her over to DSS operatives.
According to the court documents, a DSS officer informed her that the drone required an End User Certificate (EUC) and directed her to retrieve it from another officer at the agency’s Abuja office.
She, however, claimed that upon arriving at the DSS office on July 8, 2026, she was arrested at gunpoint, her personal belongings were taken from the taxi that conveyed her, and she was subsequently transferred to the DSS National Headquarters.
The journalist further alleged that she was held incommunicado until July 10 without being charged before any court, denied prompt access to her family and interrogated over her journalistic activities before eventually regaining her freedom.
Despite her release, Sodiq alleged that the DSS has continued to retain her iPhone 13 Pro, Samsung Galaxy A15, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro Max and DJI Mavic Air 2 drone, describing them as essential tools for her investigative journalism.
In the suit, she argued that the respondents violated her constitutional rights to dignity, personal liberty, privacy, property, freedom of expression and fair hearing as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
A major issue raised in the case is the reliance by the DSS on what it described as “NSA Extant Regulations” governing the possession of drones without an End User Certificate.
Sodiq contended that no Act of the National Assembly criminalises the possession or transportation of her commercially available drone, arguing that executive directives or administrative regulations cannot create criminal offences or justify arrest and detention in the absence of a law enacted by the National Assembly.
She is asking the court to declare her arrest, detention and the continued seizure of her devices unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void.
The journalist is also seeking an order compelling the immediate and unconditional release of all her confiscated equipment, a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from further violating her constitutional rights, ₦2 billion as general damages and another ₦2 billion as exemplary and aggravated damages.
Counsel to the applicant, Peter Femi Joseph, described the suit as one raising important constitutional questions on the limits of executive powers, the protection of journalists, digital privacy, press freedom and the rule of law.
He said the case would provide the Federal High Court with an opportunity to determine whether security agencies can lawfully arrest and detain citizens based on executive directives not enacted into law, and whether journalists’ professional equipment can be retained indefinitely without judicial authorisation or pending criminal proceedings.
