The Department of State Services (DSS) has once again taken into custody a key figure in Nigeria’s terror network, Abdulazeez Obadaki, the alleged mastermind of the deadly 2022 coordinated bank robberies in Uromi, Edo State.
The recapture, which security officials confirmed on Friday, comes months after Obadaki slipped out of detention during the notorious jailbreak at the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre in Abuja.
He had been one of several high-risk inmates who escaped when the facility was attacked.
Security sources said Obadaki, a leading member of the Ansaru extremist group, is linked to several violent operations across the country.
Among them is the shooting at Deeper Life College in Okene, Kogi State, an incident authorities have long attributed to the group’s activities.
The latest arrest follows earlier intelligence breakthroughs.
Nearly three months ago, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu announced that two senior Ansaru leaders, identified as the group’s Amir, Abu Baraa, and his deputy, Mahmuda, had been apprehended in separate security operations.
During an August briefing, Ribadu described Abu Baraa as the coordinator of Ansaru’s sleeper cells nationwide and a key organiser of kidnappings and armed robberies used to finance the sect’s operations.
His deputy, Mahmuda, was said to have undergone advanced weapons and explosives training in Libya between 2013 and 2015.
According to the NSA, the pair had for years been among Nigeria’s most-wanted fugitives, responsible for a string of attacks on civilians, security personnel, and strategic installations.
Their activities, Ribadu said, included the 2022 Kuje prison attack, the assault on the Niger uranium site, the 2013 kidnapping of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, and the abduction of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba in 2019.
With Obadaki now back in custody, security agencies say they are working to dismantle residual Ansaru cells believed to be operating in remote forests and border communities.
Investigators expect the latest arrest to open new leads into the group’s funding channels and recruitment patterns.
The DSS has not yet released details of how or where the fugitive was captured, but officials say further updates will follow as investigations progress.
