Nigeria’s Department of State Services, with the presure from different igbos group, has arrested a 26-year-old man who publicly claimed responsibility for last week’s attack on former presidential candidate Peter Obi in Benin City and threatened to have him killed during a planned visit to Rivers State, according to a security source familiar with the investigation.

The suspect, identified as Udeme Stephen, was traced to Rivers State, where he works as a teacher at Jessica High School in Eliozu, Obio-Akpor local government area. DSS operatives located him through forensic tracking of his social media activity after he posted a series of messages on X under the handle @stevetom788, in which he appeared to take credit for the attack and issue an explicit threat against Obi’s life.

“We warned Obi against his entrance into Edo State, but he mistook our resolve to obidiots online noise. Thank his stars he survived this one,” Stephen wrote in one of the posts. In another, he warned that Obi would not be spared during a forthcoming visit to Rivers State. “I learnt he’s going to Rivers State. No wahala. Na my MEN go handle that one and dem no dey miss target,” he wrote.

The attack on Obi took place last Tuesday at the Benin City residence of John Odigie-Oyegun, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, shortly after the group returned from the ADC secretariat where they had formally received Olumide Akpata — the Labour Party’s candidate in the 2024 Edo governorship election — into the party. Yunusa Tanko, national coordinator of the Obidient Movement, said several vehicles were destroyed and the gate to Odigie-Oyegun’s residence was shot at. Akpata subsequently disclosed that his cousin sustained a head injury during the assault after being struck with a bottle.