Police Foil Bomb Plot Targeting Government Facilities in Ondo, Arrest Six Suspects

The Ondo State Police Command has foiled a planned bomb attack on key government facilities in Akure, arresting six suspects and recovering a stash of improvised explosive device components during an intelligence-led operation on April 15.

Commissioner of Police Adebowale Lawal disclosed the breakthrough at a press briefing on Thursday, identifying the suspects as Adekunle Prosper (56), Ojo Olumide (39), Tope Kolawole (40), Ahmed Salihu (40), Bolaji Adebowale (46), and Gbadebo Abidemi (female, 43).

A total of 16 people were arrested across operations that day — six linked to the bomb plot and 10 others for alleged cult-related activities in the state.

How It Happened

According to CP Lawal, the command received credible intelligence about a criminal syndicate operating across state lines. Operatives were deployed to an identified location in Akure, where the suspects were apprehended before they could carry out their planned attack.

A search of the scene and a subsequent raid at the suspects’ rented apartment in the Oke-Odu area of Akure — which they used as their operational base — recovered 217 bottles, a bag of sugar, suspected charms, 17 mobile phones, ₦187,000 in cash, two HP laptops, eight slings, a knife, an external hard drive, a National Identity Number card, and two motorcycles. Items consistent with IED fabrication.

Police also recovered a document outlining potential targets, suggesting the plot was both coordinated and premeditated.

Days After Denying Terrorist Activity

The arrests came just days after the Ondo State Police Command publicly denied reports of terrorist activities in the state. Spokesperson Ayanlade Olushola had dismissed such claims — a position that now looks badly premature. On the same day as the arrests, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) published a report documenting how terrorists are staging increasingly audacious incursions into the South-West, with Ondo becoming what it called another “testbed” for their operations.

The Bigger Picture

Ondo is not a state traditionally associated with terrorism, but the plot fits a disturbing pattern of extremist networks expanding beyond the North-East into southern and middle-belt states. The ACF’s declaration this week that Nigeria is in a “state of war” over insecurity suddenly feels less like rhetoric and more like an understatement.

Six suspects, 217 bottles, a bag of sugar, and a document listing targets. If the police hadn’t acted on that intelligence, Akure could have been waking up to a very different headline.

Sources: ICIR, The Nation, Sahara Reporters, Guardian Nigeria