The Department of State Services (DSS) has successfully recaptured Abdulazeez Obadaki, a high-ranking commander of the Ansari terrorist network, widely suspected of orchestrating the August 7, 2012 mass shooting at a Deeper Life Bible Church near Okene, Kogi State. The attack claimed the lives of 19 worshippers, including the church pastor, while several others sustained serious injuries after three armed men opened fire with AK-47 rifles.
Obadaki, also known as “Bomboy,” later masterminded the February 2022 robbery of five commercial banks in Uromi, Edo State, which resulted in multiple deaths among policemen and civilians and the theft of hundreds of millions of Naira. Security sources revealed that he had previously been arrested but escaped during the July 2022 jailbreak at Kuje Custodial Centre. He confessed to orchestrating the escape after being transferred from Kabba Custodial Centre in June 2022.
After more than three years on the run, DSS operatives, acting on precise intelligence, recaptured Obadaki on Friday morning. The arrest underscores a continuing wave of security operations under the service’s new leadership, which has recently seen several terrorist and criminal elements apprehended nationwide.
This operation follows closely on the heels of the prosecution of five suspects linked to the 2022 daylight attack on a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, reflecting an intensified effort by the secret police to dismantle terrorist networks and fast-track the trial of arrested offenders.
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