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The Department of State Services (DSS) has recaptured a wanted terrorist, Abdulazeez Obadaki, one of the inmates who escaped during the Kuje prison break in the federal capital territory (FCT), in July 2022.
Over 800 inmates, including Boko Haram suspects who were held in the facility, escaped when insurgents attacked the prison.
Obadaki masterminded the attacks on banks in Uromi, Edo state and fatal shooting at Deeper Life College Okene in Kogi state, both in 2022.
A source familiar with the agency told TheCable that Obadaki, a member of the Ansaru terrorist group, was arrested on Friday morning.
In August, Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA), announced the arrest of two top leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group suspected of masterminding the 2022 Kuje prison break.
The NSA identified the suspects as Mahmud Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Malam Mamuda), Bara’s deputy and chief of staff.
Ribadu told journalists that the intelligence-led operation, conducted between May and July, decapitated the leadership of the Al-Qaeda-linked group.
He said the operation was carried out with the armed forces, intelligence agencies and other security stakeholders, and that the suspects had been on Nigeria’s most wanted list for years.
The NSA said the raids targeted Ansaru enclaves in and around Kainji National Park, spanning Niger and Kwara states, with links stretching into the Republic of Benin.
Ribadu linked the two terrorists to multiple attacks, including the 2022 Kuje prison break and the assault on a Niger uranium facility.
He added that the suspects were also named in the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, the 2019 kidnapping of Musa Uba (Magajin Garin Daura), and the abduction of the Emir of Wawa.
