DSS arrests three more suspects linked to Nasarawa varsity don’s kidnap

The Department of State Services has apprehended three additional individuals connected to the abduction of Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor, the Dean of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University. Security sources revealed that the arrests occurred Friday night at a brothel near Mararraban Akunza, along the Lafia-Makurdi highway.

This development comes after DSS operatives successfully rescued Professor Okunsebor two days after his abduction by gunmen on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. At the time of the rescue, two suspects, including a woman, were initially arrested. The recently apprehended suspects have been identified as Yakubu Abubakar, also known as Black/Starboy, 25; Usman Abubakar Mairiga, 37; and Sale Babauro Abubakar, 27.

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The suspects were identified as 25-year-old Yakubu Abubakar (aka Black/Starboy), of the Doemak tribe in Plateau State; 37-year-old Usman Abubakar Mairiga, and 27-year-old Sale Babauro Abubakar.

According to the security source, Mairiga is of Hausa ethnicity, while Sale Babauro Abubakar is Fulani. Yakubu Abubakar is identified as being from the Doemak tribe in Plateau State. These three suspects are now in the custody of the state command for further investigation, operating under a valid detention warrant from a magistrate’s court.

The abduction took place in Mile Uku, a community situated between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon. The latest arrests expand the total number of individuals apprehended in connection with the kidnapping to five. This incident echoes a previous DSS operation in December 2025, where two suspected kidnappers linked to the 2023 abduction and killing of a neurology professor in Cross River State were arrested.

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The suspects are in the custody of the state command for further, investigations.