Abuja, NIGERIA – Human rights activist and Convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has issued an urgent nationwide mobilization call, urging the Nigerian masses and freedom-loving citizens to descend on the Federal High Court in Abuja today in solidarity with detained journalist Zainab Sodiq.
The call to action follows reports that the Department of State Services (DSS) is arraying Sodiq before the apex court on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Okay News reports that the young media professional, who actively covers Sowore’s civic engagements, was initially detained over controversial allegations of transporting a commercial drone without an End-User Certificate.
In a fiery public broadcast on Thursday, Sowore charged citizens to resist what he termed an ongoing wave of state-sponsored intimidation and arbitrary lawlessness. Reaching out directly to civil society groups and grassroots activists, the publisher stated: “Revolutionary Comrades! The lawless DSS is taking journalist Zainab Sodiq, who covers my activities, to the Federal High Court in Abuja today. We urge the masses and all freedom-loving Nigerians to mobilize and move to the court in solidarity. This is our country. We cannot remain slaves in our own land forever. Repression will not save the oppressors!”
The situation has generated immense tension around the Maitama court premises as legal defense teams prepare for a high-stakes standoff. Sowore maintains that Sodiq’s arraignment is a desperate judicial smokescreen by the secret police to cover up an earlier botched attempt to disrupt the processing of his own international passport and force his re-imprisonment. Legal advocates and press freedom organizations across West Africa have already begun arriving at the court complex, warning that using state machinery to target media practitioners sets a highly dangerous precedent for free speech and fundamental human rights in the country.
