Operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested three more suspects allegedly linked to the kidnapping of a professor of Nasarawa State University, Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor.
The latest arrests were made on Friday night at a local brothel along the Mararaban Akunza axis of the Lafia-Makurdi highway in Nasarawa State, according to a security source.
Okunsebor, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University, was abducted in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at Mile Uku, a border community between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Areas.
The professor was rescued by DSS operatives two days after his abduction, while two suspects, including a woman, were arrested in connection with the incident.
The latest arrests, according to the source, bring to five the number of suspects apprehended in connection with the professor’s abduction.
The security source identified the newly arrested suspects as 25-year-old Yakubu Abubakar, also known as Black or Starboy; 37-year-old Usman Abubakar Mairiga; and 27-year-old Sale Babauro Abubakar.
The source said Abubakar is from the Doemak ethnic group in Plateau State, while Mairiga and Babauro Abubakar are Hausa and Fulani respectively.
“The suspects were arrested at a local brothel on Friday night by DSS operatives. They are suspected to be members of the kidnapping gang that abducted the university professor,” the source said.
The source added that the suspects were currently being held at the DSS State Command for further investigation.
He explained that their continued detention followed a valid detention warrant obtained from a magistrate’s court.
The DSS has yet to publicly disclose further details on the identities of the other suspects arrested earlier or the specific roles allegedly played by each of the five suspects in the professor’s abduction.
Investigations are expected to continue as security operatives work to establish the full structure of the alleged kidnapping syndicate and determine whether other persons are connected to the crime.
