The Department of State Services, DSS, has apprehended a 26-year-old man suspected of involvement in the recent attack on the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi, in Benin City, Edo State.
Obi, together with former All Progressives Congress, APC, National Chairman Chief John Oyegun, and several African Democratic Congress, ADC, leaders and members, narrowly survived an attack on the 24th of February, 2026, when armed assailants opened fire during a political meeting in Benin.
Soon after the incident, a man identified as Udeme Monday Stephen reportedly posted on his X account, @stevetom788, taking responsibility and issuing further threats against Obi.
Stephen wrote online that Obi was fortunate to have escaped in Benin and warned that the former presidential candidate might not be so lucky in the future.
“We warned Obi against his entrance into Edo State, but he mistook our resolve for his Obidiots online noise. Thank his stars he (Obi) survived this one…
“I learnt he’s going to my Rivers State… Na my men go handle that one and dem no dey miss target… Speak no peace to a bastard and wish him no long life, for he’s destined to die,” he posted.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency and security expert in the Lake Chad region, confirmed that Stephen has been arrested. Makama shared the update via an official X post on Monday, the 2nd of March, 2026.
According to the post, a top security source stated that following the threats, DSS operatives immediately launched a covert investigation. Forensic tools were deployed to track and apprehend the suspect.
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The source added that Stephen works as a teacher at Jessica High School in Eliozu, within the Umuehere Community, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
“I strongly believe that the outcome of the agency’s forensic investigations implicated the suspect,” the source said.
“You know that, as a responsible security organisation saddled with the task of counter-espionage, VIP protection, among other asset protection duties, the DSS is always alive to its responsibility of investigating credible intelligence, irrespective of tribe or religion.
“They swiftly deployed operatives and the man who threatened Peter Obi was nabbed and is in custody,” the source added via Makama.
He further noted that Stephen will soon face court charges.