The Department of State Services (DSS) has rearrested a wanted terrorist, Abdulazeez Obadaki, one of the inmates who escaped during the July 2022 Kuje prison break in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Obadaki—described by security officials as a “high-value terror operative”—was captured during an early-morning operation on Friday after spending more than three years on the run.
Before his escape, he had been linked to several major terror operations, including coordinated bank robberies in Uromi, Edo State, and the deadly attack on Deeper Life College in Okene, Kogi State, in 2022. Security sources say he continued to operate within Ansaru’s network, a group believed to have reestablished cells across parts of Nigeria’s North-Central region.
Widely known by the alias “Bomboy,” Obadaki is also believed to have orchestrated the August 7, 2012 attack on the Deeper Life Bible Church in Okene, where three armed men opened fire during an evening service, killing at least 19 worshippers, including the pastor.
Investigators say he later coordinated violent raids on five commercial banks in Uromi, leading to multiple deaths of police officers and civilians, and the theft of hundreds of millions of naira.
Obadaki was first arrested but escaped during the July 2022 jailbreak at the Kuje Custodial Centre—an operation he is suspected to have helped plan shortly after being transferred from Kabba Custodial Centre a month earlier.
His recapture marks another major breakthrough in ongoing operations against the leadership of Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-linked faction notorious for kidnappings, prison attacks, and targeted assassinations.
In August, National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu announced the arrest of two senior Ansaru leaders believed to be masterminds of the Kuje prison attack:
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Mahmud Usman (also known as Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the group’s self-proclaimed Emir
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Mahmud al-Nigeri (also known as Malam Mamuda), his deputy and chief of staff
Ribadu explained that the intelligence-driven operations—conducted between May and July—effectively dismantled the group’s top command structure. The raids targeted Ansaru enclaves within and around Kainji National Park, spanning Niger and Kwara states and extending into neighbouring Benin Republic.
The two suspects are also linked to several high-profile crimes, including the 2022 Kuje prison break, an attack on a Niger uranium facility, the 2013 kidnapping of French engineer Francis Collomp, the 2019 abduction of Musa Uba (Magajin Garin Daura), and the kidnapping of the Emir of Wawa.
