According to security sources, Ekpekpo was apprehended on Sunday night in an undisclosed location in Sapele, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
Professor Arthur Ekpekpo, President General of Ewu Kingdom, who was recently declared wanted by military authorities in connection with the Okuama crisis, has been taken into custody by individuals wearing military uniforms.
According to security sources, Ekpekpo was apprehended on Sunday night in an undisclosed location in Sapele, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
Although neither the police nor the military confirmed the arrest, SaharaReporters gathered that the operatives were from military intelligence in collaboration with some crack detectives from the Nigeria Police Force.
In a related development, two other prominent leaders of the Okuama community, Chief Belvis Adogbo and Dennis Akugbaye, were arrested on Monday morning by armed men in plain clothes at separate locations in Ughelli.
Although the reason for their arrest has not been made public, sources from the community said it may be connected to the March 14 killing of 17 military personnel including officers and soldiers around Okuama community.
"We don't know why our leaders are being picked up by officials suspected to be DSS operatives," a source told SaharaReporters.
One of the sources regretted that their arrest coming at a time peace was gradually returning to the troubled Okuama community, while Delta State government was making plans to resettle the displaced indigenes of the devastated agrarian community is troubling.
SaharaReporters reported that Okuama community was in March 2024 razed down when the Nigerian military invaded the community, claiming that gunmen who killed 17 military personnel in the area during a communal crisis were from the community.
The attack saw every building in Okuama community including hospital, schools and other private buildings reduced to rubbles.
When SaharaReporters reached out to the police spokesman in Delta State, SP Bright Edafe on the incident, he did not take his calls or respond a text message.
Also, efforts to get reaction of the Nigerian Army were unsuccessful as the Director Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu could not be reached on telephone and has yet to respond to text message about the incident.