Operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested three more persons linked to the kidnapping of the Dean of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University, Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor.
The three suspects were arrested on Friday night at a local brothel around Mararraban Akunza, along the Lafia-Makurdi highway, according to a security source involved in investigation into the matter .
The development comes after DSS operatives rescued Okunsebor two days after he was abducted by gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, at Mile Uku, a border community between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Areas.
Two suspects, including a woman, were also arrested by the DSS at the time of the rescue.
Giving details of the latest arrests, the security source said the three suspects were identified as 25-year-old Yakubu Abubakar, also known as Black/Starboy; 37-year-old Usman Abubakar Mairiga; and 27-year-old Sale Babauro Abubakar.
He said, “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.”
The source added that Mairiga is Hausa, while Sale Babauro Abubakar is Fulani.
According to the source, the three suspects are being held by the state command for further investigation.
“The suspects are in the custody of the state command for further, investigations,” the source said, adding that the detention followed “a valid detention warrant from a magistrate’s court.”
Okunsebor’s abduction occurred at Mile Uku, which lies between Lafia and Nasarawa-Eggon, before his rescue two days later by DSS operatives.
The latest arrests bring the number of persons apprehended in connection with the incident to five, although the two suspects earlier arrested were not identified in the information made available.
In December 2025, DSS arrested two suspected kidnappers linked to the 2023 abduction and killing of a neurology professor, Ekanem Philip-Ephraim, in Cross River State.
Philip-Ephraim was abducted on July 13, 2023, at her office in Calabar, Cross River State, and was later confirmed killed by her abductors.