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Tag: Evans

  • Evans asks court to order his release or arraigned

    Evans asks court to order his release or arraigned

    Suspected kidnapper Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a. Evans, has sued the Inspector-General of Police at the Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged violation of his fundamental rights.

    He is praying the court to compel the police to charge him to court rather than detain him indefinitely.

    In a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on his behalf by a Lagos lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje,  the suspected kidnapper said his continued detention without trial was illegal.

    He is praying for an order directing the respondents to immediately charge him to court if, there is any case against him in accordance with Sections 35 (1) (c) (3) (4) (5) (a) (b) and 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The Police, Lagos Commissioner of Police, Special Anti-Robbery Squad and Lagos State Police Command are the other respondents.

    Alternatively, Evans is seeking an order compelling the respondents to immediately release him unconditionally.

    Evans is contending that his continued detention since June 10 without charge amounts to an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

    He argues that the respondents ought to have charged him to court in line with Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution.

    A 27-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by Evans’ father, Stephen Onwuamadike, averred that the applicant had been subjected to media trial.

    The father said the media trial and news orchestrated by the respondents continued to generate reactions in both print and electronic media without his son being afforded fair hearing and trial before a court of law.

    The deponent also averred that since his son’s arrest, all his family members have been denied access to him while media practitioners have been granted unfettered access to him.

    The matter has not been assigned to any judge and no date has been fixed for the hearing.

  • The Evans tale

    Since his arrest a few weeks ago, suspected kidnap kingpin Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike aka Evans has been singing like the famed canary bird. They all do anyway when the chips are down. Many had thought that Evans would be different going by all they heard about him before he fell. He is not. He has been running his mouth non-stop.

    Since interrogators are not done with him yet, Evans would continue to talk and talk. Virtually everything he has said is in the public domain, courtesy of the press. The Evans story is not one that the press comes across everyday. Such stories come once in a blue moon. The press is feasting on the story because many of the things he said he did sound incredible.

    It is more of a movie stuff than a real life story but here we are confronted with it – a true story from the pit of hell.. It is not a dream at all. If any one is dreaming, it is Evans, who was cut down to size on June 10 in his palatial home in Magodo, Lagos. Evans lived big; though a common criminal, he did not live a commoner’s life. He lived more like a drug baron. That was the dummy he wanted to sell the police. Initially,  he told his interrogators that he got the scar  on his right shoulder from gun wounds after a messy drug business. It was a lie and he knew he was lying. He told the lie because he wanted to portray himself as a man forced by circumstances to take to crime.

    Hoodlums will never admit that they embraced crime out of choice. It is the choice they made with their eyes wide open because it is a path paved with gold and silver. It is an easy route to instant wealth,  which has made many, both young and old,  to lose their bearings in life. Crime may give wealth, stupendous wealth, but it will never last. Be it robbery, kidnapping, militancy, swindling aka 419, or money making rituals, it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts. But while the money is rolling in, the criminal feels on top of the world. He sees himself as the master of his environment. Tell me, which kind of job will fetch someone millions instantly if it is not  shady?

    Criminals know that they will pay the ultimate price when they are caught, yet they are not deterred. The easy money they get has blindfolded them to the point that they are not bothered by the consequences of their actions, which they know too well. In the end, they want to be pitied. The pity they did not have on their victims they want the law to show them when they are caught.

    Evans is not different from the others. Whatever he says today will be to save his neck. He was a terror through and through who had his hands in everything bad. You name it, he was involved – drug trafficking, robbery and kidnapping. And he was never far from the bad guys – militants from whom he got his weapons and native doctors who made charms for him. The Evans story is however deeper than that. When we look at the calibre of his victims and those who assisted him, we will see that something is wrong somewhere.

    Most of his victims were businessmen from the Southeast and the Southsouth whose business integrity cannot be vouched for. Evans, it seems, deliberately chose them because he knew they had something to hide. It takes a criminal to know a criminal. He got good information on them before kidnapping them. And once they are in his hands, he sucks them to the last dollar before releasing them. These people pay quietly without fuss, thereby emboldening him to go after others. Some may wont to ask : if you are in their shoes, what would you have done? Truly, it is not easy to dare a kidnapper especially if you can pay the ransom. But what stops you from alerting the police after such payment?

    By keeping quiet, these victims turned Evans into a demi-god and he cashed in on their fears to keep on terrorising them. He was so sure of himself that he collected ransom twice from a victim. He first collected $1million and another $200,000 from the man. His collaborators were something else. As providers of information on the victims, they got a huge share of the ransom. According to Evans, he takes 40 percent of the ransom,  while 60 percent goes to “owners of the money”. Who are these owners? These are the people the police should go after immediately. As long as these people are free, the society is not safe. Kidnapping will continue to thrive and another kingpin, bolder and more brutal than Evans, may emerge.

    Evans did not operate in a vacuum. He had dens where he kept his victims and these dens were manned by his trusted aides. But these dens were on streets where people live. Mind you, these dens were not in isolated areas. They were in densely populated neighbourhoods like Igando, Isolo and Egbeda. Yet, his victims were taken to these places without people  living in those neighbourhoods knowing anything. It may be possible for one or two people not to know what is happening in their neighbourhoods, but it is impossible for everybody there not to know what is going on. What is the essence of being neighbours if we do not know what some people living in our areas are up to?

    In Evans case, his neighbours should have become alerted to what is happening because of the noise of music coming from his dens daily. What could he be celebrating behind the walls everyday that he will be disturbing others with music? If we do not take note of things like this, our society will never be safe. In those neighbourhoods, I am certain that some people may have complained of noise coming from mosques and churches, but they did not see anything wrong in the noise coming from those dens. We failed as a people to stop Evans earlier than now. The security agencies, the Neighbourhood Watch Corps and the public must take the blame for the rise of Evans.

    With his fall, we should resolve that never again will we allow evil to flourish around us. May Evans get his just deserts.

  • Evans sues IGP over failure to arraign him

    Evans sues IGP over failure to arraign him

    Suspected kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a. Evans, has sued the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, at the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged violation of his fundamental rights.

    He is praying the court to compel the police to charge him rather than detaining him indefinitely.

    In a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on his behalf by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, the suspected kidnapper said his continued detention without trial was illegal.

    He is praying for order directing the respondents to immediately charge him to court if there is any case against him in accordance with Sections 35 (1) (c) (3) (4) (5) (a) (b) and 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The Nigeria Police Force, Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the Lagos State Police Command are the other respondents.

    Alternatively, Evans is seeking an order compelling the respondents to immediately release him unconditionally.

    Evans is contending that his continued detention since June 10 without charge amounts to an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

    He argued that the respondents ought to have charged him to court in line with Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution.

    In a 27-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by Evan’s father, Stephen Onwuamadike, it was averred that the applicant has been subjected to media trial without any court’s order.

    The father said the media trial and news orchestrated by the respondents have continued to generate reactions in both print and electronic media without his son being afforded fair hearing and trial before a court of law.

    The deponent also averred that since his son’s arrest, all his family members have been denied access to him while media practitioners have been granted unfettered access to him.

    The matter has not been assigned to any judge and no date has been fixed for the hearing.

  • Why suspected Evans gang members got bail – Police

    Why suspected Evans gang members got bail – Police

    The police have explained how Emeka, a suspected accomplice of the suspected kingpin, Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike aka Evans, was released.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Dansuki Galandashi, said Emeka and two others, Kingsley and Tochukwu, were arrested and charged to court on May 17. The suspects, he said, were remanded in prison custody before the court granted them bail on June 23.

    “Before they were granted bail, Evans was arrested. We did an identification parade and they said they did not know Evans. Evans also claimed not to know any of them.

    “Since the Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) creed is to inspire openness, we had no choice than to charge the case to court. The court looked at the evidence and released the suspects. The Police did not release them, the court did,” Galandashi said.

  • ‘I know the trauma Evans and his members put me through’

    ‘I know the trauma Evans and his members put me through’

    •Dunu attacks police over worker’s release

    Some victims of suspected kingpin, Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike aka Evans, are worried that they may be harmed by yet-to-be arrested members of his gang.

    One of them, Chief Donatus Dunu whose escape led to Evans arrest, decried the release by the court of his worker, Emeka Egbulugha who he claimed facilitated his kidnap.

    Another victim, who refused to be named, said he was freed after six months in the gang’s den, adding that he has since kept a low profile.

    He said it took him two months after his release to recollect how to sign his cheque.

    He said: “I am yet to get over the shock of my kidnap. Honestly, I am afraid to talk about it because I believe a lot of his members are still walking free. The police have done well by arresting him but they should round up all his other gang members.

    “I was detained for six months until my family paid the last dime demanded. I have been hiding since my release. I know the trauma Evans and his members put me through. Till this day, I get scared when his name is mentioned. It took me two months before I could sign my cheque.

    “Now, I heard that criminal is begging for forgiveness and that people are even campaigning for his release. Has he forgotten the damage he did to my family and many others? The police should please ensure his other members walking free are caught. That’s the only way I can feel safe.”

    Dunu, said the release of Emeka and others has placed his life and those of his family members under threat. He insisted that he heard Emeka’s voice and also saw him at the Igando den, where he was detained for more than two months.

    He said: “Nobody should have allowed those suspected workers in my company to be granted bail in any guise because I have evidence of the active participation of, particularly, Emeka, my pharmacist. Releasing him has worsened my plight and that of my family.

    “Why should police release Emeka, the chief accomplice in my kidnap? I not only heard his voice while in captivity, but saw him there few days after my kidnap. He came asking them where I was kept. When they showed him, he opened the door where they kept me in chains and our eyes met. Though I was blindfolded, I was about eating when I heard his voice and I normally remove the blind. That was how I saw him and I had the greatest shock of my life.

    “He was always there with my abductors. His voice is unmistakable to me having stayed with him since 2003. The man in charge of the den, Uche, whom he claimed he does not know, speaks the same dialect with him. He is the person Emeka met each time he visited. There was also another member of the gang who spoke the Abakaliki dialect of Yoruba and I don’t know whether those arrested have confessed about his whereabouts to the police.

    “I have a strong feeling that Uche and Emeka are from the same town because they speak the same dialect. Those guarding me were initially two. When the Abakaliki man travelled on Easter Monday, they brought another person to replace him. That one is very sick because he was coughing constantly. I knew that the Abakaliki man travelled because I heard Emeka discussing with Uche, asking whether he had travelled and Uche said, yes.

    “That same Easter Monday, I overheard Emeka and Uche saying “We will kill him.  We have no alternative until chairman comes back.”

    “Two weeks after, chairman came back and I knew whenever he visited because they shut all the doors and switch on the generator perhaps, to stifle their discussions.  His visit did not last more than 10 minutes and that was the first and only time he came to the den while I was there.  That same night, the Abakaliki man brought noodle for my dinner.

    “He told me to eat so that I will have enough energy to face ‘us at the canal.’ They later told me that canal is where they use to ‘bath’ their captives and I concluded that it means where they killed their victims. I was made to understand that the Abakaliki man is the one that would kill me if chairman gives the order.

    “That was when I realised the killing they were discussing with Emeka was about to take place.  Earlier, I thought that the killing they were discussing must be probably another person. But after this canal; discussion, I now knew that I was their target.  After that, I overheard Emeka again, about two weeks later, discussing with Uche saying ‘If they want to kill him, they should kill him.  In fact, kill him.’

    “Then, their last discussion was on Wednesday before my escape on Friday. I heard Emeka again asking whether they had killed me. They said no, it was going to be Friday night. That was when I concluded that it was all over.”

    Asked if he had any disagreement with Emeka before his kidnap, Dunu said the only thing he remembered was making some adjustments after he suspected Emeka was fleecing him.

    He said: “I suspected that he and some of my boys were stealing goods from my warehouse and I made changes, which I suspect did not favour him. I strongly suspect that this must be his motive to connive with those kidnappers.  In fact, before my abduction, we had a meeting with a foreign partner and I remember vividly that during one of my telephone conversations with their chairman whom I suspect is Evans, he asked me who the two ladies in my office were the same day I was kidnapped.

    “Emeka came to the office that same day and those ladies were with me.  Why did the chairman ask that question? Who told him that I was with two ladies in my office? These are the unanswered questions police should have asked.

    “Secondly, my kidnappers told me that they have a group picture of my staff which we took last January.  We use to meet every January and all the sales representatives including Emeka attended. They also claimed they went to take inventory of the goods in my warehouse. Yes, they did but we are still auditing to know whether goods were missing or not.

    “Even, an account opening document was found in Emeka’s official car before he was taken to the anti-kidnapping unit after his arrest.  Emeka was the only visitor that came to the den while I was there. He was not an ordinary friend to those that guarded me.

    “I feel so bad that the police allowed the court to set him free thereby endangering my life. I don’t think the police carried out a thorough investigation after the so-called identification parade which was simply a charade. I am calling on the police authorities to do the needful by re-arresting Emeka and investigating him thoroughly.”

    Why suspects got bail – Police

    The police have explained how Emeka was released.

    Deputy Commissioner of Police, Administration, Dansuki Galandashi, said Emeka and two others, Kingsley and Tochukwu, were arrested and charged to court on May 17. The suspects, he said, were remanded in prison custody before the court granted them bail on June 23.

    “Before they were granted bail, Evans was arrested. We did an identification parade and they said they did not know Evans. Evans also claimed not to know any of them.

    “Since the Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) creed is to inspire openness, we had no choice than to charge the case to court. The court looked at the evidence and released the suspects. The Police did not release them, the court did,” Galandashi said.

  • I burnt pipelines because task force betrayed me – Evans

    I burnt pipelines because task force betrayed me – Evans

    •Agencies compile list of stolen arms, ammunition
    •Suspect arrested by NSCDC, handed over to JTF

    Security agencies in Bayelsa State are probing the identity of Suoyo mentioned by the notorious billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeje Onwuamadike, aka Evans, as one of his gang members in the state.

    Evans, in one of his numerous confessional statements, named Suoyo as one of the active members of his gang, who had the assignment of buying arms and ammunition, for their operations.

    He said: “When Suoyo, who lives in Bayelsa State, called me and expressed fears, I also assured him that nothing was going to happen. I told him I was making plans for another operation and needed him to go into the creeks and buy a new set of arms and ammunition”.

    But security commanders in Bayelsa were said to have met over the weekend to analyse Evan’s confessional statement to unmask the real identity of Suoyo.

    In the meeting which held in Government House in the presence of Governor Seriake Dickson, the security commanders were said to be certain that the Suoyo mentioned by Evans was the same person recently arrested by the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state.

    Suoyo Dickson was arrested and paraded on Thursday by the state Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, in connection with the recent attack on a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).

    Suoyo, popularly known as Hustler, reportedly led a gang of vandals that attacked the Agip pipeline at Lagosgbene, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state on May 30, 2017.

    He was, however, arrested on June 16, 2017 at Agbigiba community in Southern Ijaw.

    Suoyo, in his confessional statement, also admitted having some criminal camps in the creeks saying he led an oil and gas task force operating in Southern Ijaw to destroy the camps but became frustrated when the task force failed to reward him.

    On how he attacked the pipeline, Evans said; ”I used two handsaw blades and handsaw to open up the point, I cut the handle in the valve, I fetched 20 litres of petrol, I lit spark lighter and threw it into the pipe and burnt it.”

    ”I burnt the pipeline because the task force  did not keep to their promise of employing us after making us to show them our bunkering camps and the subsequent destruction by the military.

    ”We showed them our camps, eight of them. All the camps did not belong to me. Three were mine while other groups have five. After showing them, the task force engaged the military to destroy our camps.

    ”The other groups, whose camps were destroyed were not happy with me. They said I betrayed them and they started planning to kill me and my family members. The situation put me under pressure more so the employment they promised all of us after seven days did not materialise”.

    It was gathered that Agu, after parading the suspect, handed him over to the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (ODS) for further investigations.

    A security source, who spoke in confidence, said at the meeting of the security commanders in Yenagoa, which was attended by the heads of ODS, the police and NSCDC, it was agreed that Suoyo should be subjected to further investigations.

    Following Evans’ confession, the security heads were said to be linking him to the theft of service rifles of security operatives especially policemen in the state.

    They recalled many attacks on operatives by criminals, who only fled with arms and ammunition handled by their victims.

    “The security heads also agreed to compile a list of such stolen arms and ammunition in the state and send it to the Force Headquarters to know whether they were among the ones  recovered from Evans.

    “The Suoyo mentioned by Evans seems in all ramifications to be the same suspected arrested by the NSCDC recently in connection with attack on a pipeline. The security heads in the state believe so and they will surely carry out further investigations to determine his linkage with the Evans’ gang.”

     

  • Evans as a metaphor

    Evans as a metaphor

    Without derogating the seriousness of the crime allegedly committed by Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, alias Evans ‘the intelligent kidnapper’, his misconduct draws attention to many contradictions in our ailing society. For days after the story broke, his escapades received cult-like attention in the news, with some reports digging into properties he had acquired, his family members, their lifestyle and their reactions to the dastardly accusations against the infamous fellow.

    As expected, Nigerians were shocked by the exploits of Evans and his organized gang, spanning across many cities, mainly within Lagos State. They were also allegations that some highly placed persons and law enforcement agents may have connived with Evans and his team, described as arguably the most intelligent kidnap-kingpin of our time. Evans soon started singing like canary, and as days passed, he even asked for another chance to make up for his past deeds.

    The police officials who busted the crime were hailed and celebrated, and their leader, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kyari, praised as a gifted crime buster. Interestingly, on the same day Evans and his gang were busted, there were stories in the dailies with respect to the lingering allegations of humongous corrupt enrichment by former Air Force Chiefs Alex Badeh, and Amosu, who are facing trials for allegedly stealing billions of naira, from the coffers of the Nigeria Air Force. Since Evans case, the cases against Olisa Metuh, Nenadi Usman and Femi Fani-Kayode, involving humongous sums allegedly appropriated from state coffers, have also come up.

    While Evans family got general condemnation over the allegations against him, Badeh’s son for instance, who at a time during the alleged criminal exploits of his father was in charge of ordering the disbursement of Air Force resources to build a private estate, as if it was his father’s a private resources, has not been given such a close attention like the children of Evans. Of course the same unequal treatment, in denouncing, naming and shaming of Evans family is applicable with respect to the families of other politically-exposed criminal kingpins living large from the proceeds of their breadwinners’ crime.

    The point is that the society does not feel sufficiently appalled when the crime alleged, is what can be regarded as a white-collar crime. I bet that if the public is asked to place on a scale, the crime allegedly committed by Evans and that allegedly committed by Badeh and the rest of the gang that raped our national resources, particularly through the office of the National Security Adviser and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, that of Evans would weigh many tons more than the other criminal kingpins.

    Yet, if there is a sociological study of the destructive impact of the crime committed by Evans and those who stole billions of the resources meant for arms purchase, development of physical and social national infrastructure for instance, that of the latter may have been more impactful. The point I am making, is that even though the white collar criminals may be more insidious than the rough and tumble of the street gangsters, our society appears not to care as much.

    Here, the recent admonition of Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo to churches to expel her members facing corruption charges comes to mind. Indeed, comparing Evans with the white-collar criminals, I bet that while no faith-based organization would openly socialize with Evans while his ordeal lasts, many would with pomp and pageantry celebrate with those accused of having engaged in the white-collar crimes since the society don’t feel equally offended. A further outcome of this discrimination in favour of the white-collar crimes as manifested in the Evans case is cynicism.

    Not long after the family of Evans was given attention by the media, there was a hashtag for FreeEvans, which gained a lot of notoriety. While that movement is reprehensible, my guess is that the messengers are telling the authorities that what Evans is engaged in, is not much different from what those in positions of power are engaged in – criminal endeavour. In a way, it is also a vote of no-confidence on the criminal justice system – the believe that with enough resources the rich don’t get punished; so, what is good enough for the upper class white-collar criminals should apply to Evans of the underclass.

    Another significant import of Evans banditry is the wretched state of our security infrastructure. When a criminal ridicules the state, by evading its dragnet as Evans did for several years, or when criminals write to schools in Epe or elsewhere that they will strike and they go ahead to do exactly that, or when the cultists in Ikorodu, engage in an orgy of ritualistic murder with the Police appearing helpless; not many will be able to link it with the absence of reliable data of persons living in an area, otherwise called census.

    So, when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, in a self-serving manoeuvre or out of ignorance, says that it is more expedient to hold an election that will be fraught with irregularities because of lack of reliable data, than to organise the national census, long overdue, to gain, among other benefits, biometric data that would knock off an Evans and give the state the muscle to deal with crime, he misses the important point.

    The Speaker, like others of his ilk, who maybe beclouded by politics, instead of the gains and the magic associated with the technology of modern data, like the ATM, reinforces preference for the opacity of the current era. They forget that each time the kidnapper climbs the school fence, to take away our children, every time the cultist scurries the neighbourhood to kill and maim, each door the armed robber breaks to gain an entry, he leaves his fingerprints, and with a mere push of button, the data would pop up, to save future victims, if we have a reliable data.

    Another significant reflection from the Evans saga is the failure or inefficiency of the so-called registration of SIM-cards. If as reported, Evans had over a hundred SIM-cards, all pre-registered before he bought them, then I can understand why, I, like many other Nigerians, still get a call or a text from persons obviously trying to dupe with idiotic tales about offer to verify one’s BVN or such other idiocy. When I get such a call or text, I usually ask, until Evans story, why despite registration of SIM-cards, putative criminals still make such dangerous calls.

    But with the information that Evans owned tens of SIM-cards, with registration particulars that have no link to him; is the essence of the registration exercise not defeated? The Nigerian Communications Commission must wake-up to that challenge. One other notable fall-out of the Evans saga is the existence of many closet ethnic-demagogues, who used Evans ethnic origin, to ply their duplicitous trade.

     

     

  • Evans: I got gunshot scar after 2006 Lagos robbery

    Evans: I got gunshot scar after 2006 Lagos robbery

    Kidnap kingpin recants drug story

    Police go after another soldier

    Suspected kidnap kingpin Chukwudumeje George Onwuamadike (aka Evans) has confessed that the gunshot scar on his shoulder came from the injury he sustained during a 2006 bank robbery in Lagos.

    This is contrary to his earlier claim that he got the injury during a fracas following a drug business in South Africa in 2007.

    Evans, who was confronted with a newspaper interview that indicated the scar was as a result of a gun duel between him and his gang members at the National Theatre in Surulere, Lagos Mainland,  admitted that he lied earlier.

    According to the suspect, he and his gang members robbed a bank in 2006. While sharing the loot, there was a disagreement, which led to a fight.

    He admitted that they started shooting themselves, adding that many of the robbers died. He was seriously injured and abandoned by the others.

    The kingpin also admitted that he was arrested by the police, adding that he and two others were transferred to the Imo State Police Command, where they were released.

    The officer in charge of the Inspector General of Police’ (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said: “Evans was confronted with the interview on Sunday and he admitted that the bullet wounds are from disagreement over sharing of loot after bank robbery in Lagos in 2006. They shot one another and many gang members died while Evans survived with bullet wounds.”

    A Superintendent of Police with the Band section of the Police College in Lagos, simply identified as Tina, reportedly sought to get the case being put together against Evans after the bank robbery dropped. Her attempt was rebuffed.

    She reportedly travelled to Owerri from where a report was sent requesting the transfer of Evans to the command because of another case he was involved in, which they claimed was under investigation.

    The kingpin was quietly released inOwerri. Tina is believed to be related to Evans’ mother.

    The Nation gathered that the police were out to fish out all those who participated in the 2006 release of Evans and two of his gang members. They are to be prosecuted.

    It was also learnt that the police have begun a manhunt for another soldier said to be a member of Evans’ gang.

    The soldier whose identity is yet to be revealed, it was gathered, was attached to one of the Army formations in Lagos.

    A source said the police had the soldier’s names and pictures, adding that they would leave no stone unturned in arresting him.

    “He should have been arrested on Saturday night but we believe he might have gone into hiding after his colleague, Victor Chukwunonso, was caught. That was why the police high command did not want to release information on the arrest of Chukwunonso because there are so many others being investigated.

    “But I know he would be caught. Our bosses will simply approach army authorities with evidence and request that he be handed over to the police.

    “It is true that they have started looking for that Tina woman and many other officers who were serving at the Imo State Command at that time that Evans was released. So many heads will roll in this matter.”

  • Evans, kidnap kingpin was arrested for robbery in 2006—police

    Evans, kidnap kingpin was arrested for robbery in 2006—police

    The arrested kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onuamadike, a.k.a Evans, was arrested in 2006 for armed robbery where seven members of his gang died during sharing of their loot in Lagos State.

    A very reliable police source gave this revelation on Sunday as investigations on Evans past activities deepened.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that Evans and his robbery gang, in 2006 attacked a commercial bank in Lagos and went somewhere around the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, to share the loot.

    It was gathered that while sharing the loot, the robbers had a disagreement and shot one another. Seven members of the gang died instantly.

    “The then Divisional Police Officer of Iponri Police Station, Yahaya Bello, now a deputy commissioner of police, said there was a serious incident involving some persons who shot at one another. He said about three of them had been arrested

    “One of the members of the gang arrested then was Chukwudi Onuamadike, popularly known as Evans. If you look at his chest, I cannot remember whether it is the right or left side, there is a scar. It was as a result of the gunshot from his gang members that day.

    “He bled and there was no way he could run away before the police came. The case was transferred to the Lagos State Anti-Robbery Squad. We investigated and discovered that they were armed robbers.

    “ Evans led the team. We also went to Mbidi Police Station, Imo State, to carry out an investigation on them. We were able to arrest two other members of the gang. We then had five of them in police custody.

    “There was a policewoman at the Band Section of the Police College, Lagos. She was known as Tina, a Superintendent of Police. She insisted that we should drop the case and that Onuamadike (Evans) was her brother.

    “But when she was unable to achieve her aim, she travelled to Imo State. Not long after, we got a message from the Imo State Police Command that they had been searching for Evans and asked us to transfer the case to them so they could continue from where we stopped. Since that time, we did not hear anything. We heard he was later released there,” the source said.

    The source noted that after he saw Evans pictures, he knew that he was the man they arrested alongside members of his gang in 2006, stressing, however, that Evans was not bearing the alias, Evans, at the time.

    “We identified him only as Chukwudi. Some of the persons we worked together on the case also called me to draw my attention to the fact that he was the one arrested.

    “He couldn’t have been the only person released. The request was that we should transfer the case to them. We sent him and two members of his gang to the command. There is a hotel in Okota area where they used to meet to share their loot.

    “The owner of the hotel was their friend. There was a time they robbed three banks in Alaba International Market in 2005. They also looted shops there. One of the owners of the shop complained to the police and we carried out an investigation.

    “We discovered that some of the items stolen in the man’s shop were digital cameras. We traced the cameras to the hotel and into the office of the hotel owner. It was then that ‘big men’ started calling from everywhere that we should drop the charges against them.

    “The owner of the hotel was later killed by the robbers, following a disagreement. His body was dumped by the roadside in one of the states in the East sometime ago,” the source told police investigators.

    The source expressed fear that if Evans was not properly investigated and prosecuted he can form a terrorist group being a hardened criminal; in view of the fact that he collects any ransom demanded to the last Kobo before releasing such victims.

    “The best way to handle his case is for the police to do their work. They should do a proper investigation. If it will take four months to investigate him, they should do so. He has links in South Africa, Ghana, etc.

    “ I know him. Bank robbery and hijacking of bullion vans was easy for him and his gang members. He did not hesitate to shoot any member of his gang suspected of foul play,” the source noted.

    NAN further gathered from the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team that Evans confirmed all the incidents alleged by the police source. (NAN)

  • Security agencies probe identity of Evans’s gang member in Bayelsa

    Security agencies probe identity of Evans’s gang member in Bayelsa

    Security agencies in Bayelsa State are probing the identity of one Suoyo mentioned by the notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeje Onwuamadike, aka Evans, as one of his gang members in the state.
    Evans, in one of his numerous confessional statements, named Suoyo as one of the active members of his gang, who had the assignment of buying arms and ammunition, for their operations.
    “When Suoyo, who lives in Bayelsa state, called me and expressed fears, I also assured him that nothing was going to happen. I told him I was making plans for another operation and needed him to go into the creeks and buy a new set of arms and ammunition,” Evans said in an interview.
    But security commanders in Bayelsa were said to have met over the weekend to analyse Evan’s confessional statement to unmask the real identity of Suoyo.
    At the meeting which held in Government House in the presence of Governor Seriake Dickson, the security commanders were said to be certain that that the Suoyo mentioned by Evans was the same person recently arrested by the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state.
    One Suoyo  Dickson was arrested and paraded on Thursday by the state Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, in connection with the recent attack on a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
    Suoyo, popularly known as Hustler, reportedly led a gang of vandals that attacked the Agip pipeline at Lagosgbene, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state on May 30, 2017.
    He was, however, arrested on June 16, 2017 at Agbigiba community in Southern Ijaw.
    Suoyo, in his confessional statement, also admitted having some criminal camps in the creeks saying he led an oil and gas task force operating in Southern Ijaw to destroy the camps but became frustrated when the task force failed to reward him.
    On how he attacked the pipeline, Evans said;: ”I used two handsaw blades and handsaw to open up the point, I cut the handle in the valve, I fetched 20 litres of petrol, I lit spark lighter and threw it into the pipe and burnt it.”

    ”I burnt the pipeline because the task force  did not keep to their promise of employing us after making us to show them our bunkering camps and the subsequent destruction by the military.

    ”We showed them our camps, eight of them. All the camps did not belong to me. Three were mine while other groups have five. After showing them, the task force engaged the military to destroy our camps. 

    ”The other groups, whose camps were destroyed were not happy with me. They said I betrayed them and they started planning to kill me and my family members. The situation put me under pressure more so the employment they promised all of us after seven days did not materialize”.
    It was gathered that Agu, after parading the suspect, handed him over to the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (ODS) for further investigations.
    A security source, who spoke in confidence, said at the meeting of the security commanders in Yenagoa, which was attended by the heads of ODS, the police and NSCDC, it was agreed that Suoyo should be subjected to further investigations.
    Following Evans’ confession, the security heads were said to be linking him to the theft of service rifles of security operatives especially policemen in the state.
    They recalled many attacks on operatives by criminals, who only fled with arms and ammunition handled by their victims.
    “The security heads also agreed to compile a list of such stolen arms and ammunition in the state and send it to the Force Headquarters to know whether they were among the ones  recovered from Evans.
    “The Suoyo mentioned by Evans seems in all ramifications to be the same suspected arrested by the NSCDC recently in connection with attack on a pipeline. The security heads in the state believe so and they will surely carry out further investigations to determine his linkage with the Evans’ gang.
    “Suoyo may be the mastermind of various attacks on security operatives, whose rifles were stolen in the state. They were also killed in the process,” the source said.