Operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested three additional suspects in connection with the abduction of Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor, Dean of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University.
The suspects were reportedly arrested on Friday night at a local brothel around Mararraban Akunza, along the Lafia Makurdi highway, according to a security source familiar with the investigation.
The latest arrests came two days after DSS operatives rescued Okunsebor, who was abducted by gunmen in the early hours of July 15, 2026, at Mile Uku, a border community between Lafia and Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Areas.
Two other suspects, including a woman, had earlier been arrested during the rescue operation, bringing the number of people apprehended over the incident to five.
The newly arrested suspects were identified 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.
A security source said Abubakar is from the Doemak community in Plateau State, while Mairiga is Hausa and Sale Babauro Abubakar is Fulani.
The three suspects are currently being held by the DSS state command for further investigation. The source said their detention was backed by a valid warrant issued by a magistrate’s court.
Okunsebor was abducted from Mile Uku, an area between Lafia and Nasarawa Eggon, before security operatives secured his release two days later.
The latest development comes amid continued efforts by security agencies to track down suspected kidnapping networks operating across the country.
In a related case, DSS operatives arrested two suspected kidnappers in December 2025 over the 2023 abduction and killing of neurology professor Ekanem Philip Ephraim in Cross River State.
Philip Ephraim was abducted from her office in Calabar on July 13, 2023, and was later confirmed dead in the hands of her abductors.
