The Department of State Services has arrested three additional suspects connected to the kidnapping of Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor, Dean of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University. This brings the total number of people held in connection with the case to five.
According to a security source, DSS operatives apprehended the three men on Friday night. They were found at a local brothel along the Mararraban Akunza on the Lafia-Makurdi highway.
The suspects have been identified as Yakubu Abubakar (25), Usman Abubakar Mairiga (37) and Sale Babauro Abubakar (27). Furthermore, the source confirmed the arrests were made pursuant to a valid detention warrant issued by a magistrate’s court. All three are currently in the custody of the DSS State Command as investigations continue.
Professor Okunsebor was kidnapped in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, by gunmen who abducted him at Mile Uku. This is a border community between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon local government areas. He was rescued by DSS operatives two days later. Two suspects, including a woman, were arrested at the time of the rescue.
The latest arrests indicate that security operatives are actively working to dismantle the full network behind the abduction.
Kidnappings targeting academics and professionals in north-central Nigeria have become a troubling pattern. However, Nasarawa State is among the states most affected by criminal activity along its major road corridors.
