Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, has sued the Department of State Services, DSS, for ₦5 billion over an alleged assault and abduction inside the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The suit, filed on October 13, 2026, also names DSS Director-General Tosin Ajayi, Attorney-General of the Federation and Deputy Director of the DSS Benjamin Bulus as defendants.
Marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2480/2026, the fundamental rights enforcement suit challenges the legality of the alleged operation on June 22, 2026, and seeks redress for violations of Sowore’s rights to human dignity and personal liberty.
In the suit, Sowore alleged that armed, hooded DSS operatives attacked him within the court premises, forcibly removed him and took him to the building’s basement using elevators reserved for Federal High Court judges.
His lawyer, Peter Femi Joseph, said the incident occurred after Justice Mohammed Umar ordered Sowore’s remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the hearing and determination of his application for a stay of the order revoking his bail and the bench warrant issued against him.
Also, he alleged that DSS operatives, including armed men and women wearing hoods, stormed the fourth floor of the court building to arrest Sowore.
The operatives allegedly assaulted him and forcibly took him from the area before transporting him against his will to the basement of the complex, causing injuries in the process.
Sowore maintained that he had committed no offence warranting the alleged treatment and argued that the DSS lacked lawful authority to assault, abduct, intimidate or subject him to degrading treatment within a court premises.
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He further alleged that the operation was intended to intimidate and harm him despite the existence of a judicial order specifying the process for his remand.
The suit identifies Ajayi as the DSS director-general and Bulus as the deputy director and operative alleged to have led the operation.
Sowore also disclosed that video footage of the alleged incident, captured using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, would form part of the evidence presented in court.
The suit cites Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which guarantee the rights to dignity of the human person and personal liberty.
Sowore argued that the alleged assault, forcible removal, intimidation and detention violated those constitutional protections. He is also seeking to establish the legal responsibility of the DSS, its director-general, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Bulus for the alleged misconduct.
The AAC presidential candidate is asking the court to award him ₦5 billion in aggravated damages over the alleged assault, abduction, humiliation, intimidation and violation of his fundamental rights.
He is also seeking declarations on the alleged unlawfulness of the defendants’ conduct, injunctive and consequential orders, and any further relief the court considers appropriate.
ThisDayLive
