The Department of State Services (DSS) has re-arrested Abdulazeez Obadaki, the suspected mastermind of the deadly 2022 bank robberies in Uromi, Edo State, months after he escaped during the jailbreak at the Kuje Medium Custodial Centre in Abuja.
Obadaki, described by security sources as a “high-value and highly dangerous fugitive,” was also linked to the fatal shooting at Deeper Life College in Okene, Kogi State.
The arrest comes nearly three months after Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA), announced the successful raid and capture of two top leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group, an extremist faction of Boko Haram notorious for kidnappings, targeted killings, and attacks on security formations.
At an August security briefing in Abuja, Ribadu identified the arrested Ansaru leaders as Abu Baraa, the group’s self-proclaimed Amir, and his deputy, Mahmuda.
He described them as central figures responsible for coordinating terror cells across the country.
“The first is Mahmud Muhammad Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the self-styled Emir of ANSARU..He is the coordinator of various terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria and the mastermind of several high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to finance terrorism over the years”, Ribadu said.
The NSA added that Mahmuda, formally known as Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Mallam Mamuda), served as the group’s “Chief of Staff” and leader of the feared ‘Mahmudawa’ cell, operating largely in the fringes of the Kainji National Park across Niger and Kwara states into the Benin Republic.
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He was said to have undergone weapons and explosives training in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadist instructors from Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria.
According to NSA, both men had been on Nigeria’s most-wanted list for years and are believed to have jointly orchestrated some of the country’s most brazen terror operations.
These include the Kuje jailbreak, during which Obadaki escaped the attack on the Niger uranium facility, the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, and the May 1, 2019, kidnapping of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, the Magajin Garin Daura.
