The Department of State Services has captured Abdulazeez Obadaki, a top commander of the Ansaru terrorist group who escaped from the Kuje Custodial Centre in 2022. His re-arrest follows a three-year manhunt.
Obadaki, also known as Bomboy, is accused of orchestrating the August 7, 2012 attack on the Deeper Life Bible Church in Okene, Kogi State, where 19 worshippers, including the pastor, were killed after armed men opened fire during an evening service.
Security sources disclosed that he also coordinated a series of violent robberies on five banks in Uromi, Edo State, in the months that followed. Those attacks resulted in multiple deaths, including police officers and civilians, with large sums of money stolen.
Obadaki was first detained for these crimes but escaped during the July 2022 jailbreak at Kuje, an operation he is suspected to have helped organise shortly after being moved from the Kabba Custodial Centre.
According to security officials, DSS operatives tracked him down through an intelligence-driven operation and arrested him on Friday morning, ending years of pursuit.
His capture comes two months after the DSS arraigned five suspects linked to the June 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, which claimed dozens of lives.
Investigators believe Obadaki played a major role in establishing and directing a network responsible for several major terrorist and criminal operations across the North-Central and South-South regions.
