Operatives of the Department of State Services have arrested a man suspected of masterminding the recent attempt to assassinate the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, in Benin, the Edo State capital.
Obi and a former chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, as well as several other chieftains of the opposition African Democratic Congress, on February 24, narrowly escaped death when armed men fired several gunshots at them at a party meeting in Benin.
Shortly after the attack, one Udeme Monday Stephen, posted on his X account @stevetom788, claiming responsibility for the attack and threatening further attacks on Obi.
Stephen stated in his post that Obi was lucky to have escaped in Benin, and vowed that the former presidential candidate wouldn’t be that lucky next time.
Udeme wrote, “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.”
According to a security source, no sooner had Stephen issued the threat than DSS operatives began covert investigation, deploying forensic analysis to track and arrest him.
The source disclosed that the suspect is a 26-year-old called Udeme Monday Stephen, and teaches at Jessica High School in Eliozu, Rivers State, at Umuehere Community, in Obio-Akpor LGA of the state.
According to the source, “I strongly believe that the outcome of the agency’s forensic investigations implicated the suspect.
“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 declared, adding that Stephen would soon be charged to court.”
