JUST like a thriller typically
involving crime and mystery, the story of arrested Kidnap Kingpin, Chukwudumeje
Onwuamadike, aka, Evans has remained captivating. Like a Hollywood movie with
an exciting plot and phenomenal characters, the issue begets interesting and
surprising angles each day. When you think Evans had narrated nearly all his
escapades, more sensational and suspenseful narratives would emerge, producing
new angles to the most intriguing criminal case in Nigeria’s recent history.
Frankly, only the Lawrence Anini case of the 1980s could rival the Evans
episode given that like the former, the latter was also the king of the
underworld. Interestingly, the same kind of tragic flaw ended their respective
episodes given that women were key to their downfall. At an exclusive encounter
with SaturdayVanguard, during the week, Evans pondered on the events leading to
his arrest and concluded that visiting his girlfriend, Amaka was the weakness
that led to his fall. An unassuming Evans, whose expression was a mixture of
sobriety and impenitence, summarized the pre-arrest events thus: “I f***ked
up.” At the latest meeting with Evans at the Lagos State Police Command
Headquarters, Ikeja, where he is being detained, the Nnewi-born kidnap kingpin
made fresh revelations amid regrets about not leaving the country with his
family.
I failed to follow my instincts He
told Saturday Vanguard that he knew the Police had identified the area he was
living, a discovery he made on May 23, 2017, when the officer-incharge-of the
IRT, Abba Kyari, visited Magodo Estate and held a meeting with the Divisional
Police Officer and some residents of Magodo Estate. Evans revealed that one of
the residents, who was part of that meeting alerted him to the Police presence
in the area. The person, he said, informed him, who the Police were looking for
and how they planned to carry out their operation.
Evans said he quickly moved his
family out of Magodo and relocated to a hotel in Ikeja. He said his failure to
follow his instincts and leave the country immediately, having known that his
girlfriends, sister and gang members had been arrested, gave him out. How my
problems started Narrating the new angles to his story, the Junior Secondary
School dropout said: “My problem started on Friday, May 12, 2017, when one of
my captives, Mr. Donatus Dunu, a Pharmacist, who I abducted at Ilupeju area of
Lagos escaped. I got a call from one of my boys looking after my victims at my
den at 6: am that Mr. Dunu escaped from that den at 4:30 am. They looked for
him without success.
At that time, I knew trouble had
come. The next news I heard was that the Police had visited the place and my
AK47 rifles, pistols and over 40 loaded magazines were recovered by the Police.
‘’ I was worried and I called my gang members wanting to know what actually
transpired. They all blamed Uche, who was in charge of the den. I told them
that I was going to deal with him. At that time, my mind started racing and I
was trying to think of what to do because I knew that the Police would come
after me with force. I read a story in Vanguard “ Five days later, I read a
story in Vanguard Newspaper that the IGP had deployed, Abba Kyari and his men
to Lagos State, to track my boys and 1 and they have also visited the den,
where Mr. Dunu escaped from. That was about the same time they placed a bounty
of N30million for information that could lead to my arrest. Some of my men, who
got news started panicking, but I assured them that I was on top of the
situation and that the police would not get me. My Second-in-Command, Felix
called me and expressed fears, but I assured him that the Police can’t arrest
me and I was also making preparations to kidnap one other person. I then
informed him that I would commit suicide rather than allow the Police to arrest
me.
When Suoyo, who lives in Beyelsa
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 for me.”
The shock of my life “But in the
afternoon of May 23, 2017, I got the shock of my life when a call from a man
living in our estate informed me that Abba Kyari and his men, held a meeting
with the estate security and the local police.
He said they had information that
the man kidnapping businessmen in Festac Town and Amuwo Odofin, receiving
$1million as ransom from his victims was residing in Magodo Estate. The man
also informed me that the estate and the Police have agreed to shut one of the
gates leading into the estate to enable them to track me down through the
vehicle I was using. He also told me that some of Abba Kyari’s men would
disguise as LAWMA officials cleaning the streets and some of them would operate
as PHCN staff to enable them to have access to people’s home within the state.
The man, who gave me this information didn’t know that I was the one who the
Police were looking for. I quickly moved my family out of the house and we
relocated to a hotel in Agidingbi, Ikeja, where we started planning on how to
relocate to Ghana.
I buy my cars from Beger Motors
“While at the hotel, my mind wasn’t at rest, I didn’t know where the Police
would be launching attacks from. I was on hyper-alert and I started thinking of
how to make sure the Police didn’t get me. I quickly sold my Lexus SUVs because
from the information I gathered from the man who called me, I learnt the Police
were looking for a man, who drives a black and silver coloured Lexus SUVs. Then
I got someone to move my mother out of Nnewi because I believed the Police may
go after her and would want to use her to lure me. While I was making these
plans, news came in that my Second-in-Command, Felix had been arrested by the
Police. Someone from Berger Motors on Oshodi Apapa Expressway where we normally
buy our vehicles called and informed me that the Police operatives picked him
up at their park. I trusted Felix so much because he wouldn’t divulge any
information about me to the Police. He had told me on countless occasions, that
no matter the amount of torture he receives from the Police that he would not
divulge any information about our activities. My girlfriend, Ijeoma ‘’ While I
was still contemplating on what to do next, I received another call from one of
my girlfriends, Ijeoma, who I was so fond of. She said she wanted to see me.
Immediately, I had this feeling that the Police had arrested her. I told her
that she could not see me because I knew she was with the Police, then I
dropped the call. I was very worried and needed to hasten our journey out of
Nigeria.
I planned to travel with my entire
family to Canada but the Canadian Embassy refused to grant me a visa. So we
decided to move to Ghana where I have three houses so we could apply for
Canadian visa from Ghana.
Two days later, Ijeoma’s twin sister
who lives in the east called and informed me that her sister called from the
Police station that she was arrested because of me and the Police wanted her to
bring the sum of N200,000 as a bribe for her bail. I told her the Police were
only deceiving her because the matter at hand was beyond N200,000 bribe. My
instruction to my boys ‘’I asked her to look for a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,
SAN, who could stand for her. I also told her to look for someone who knows the
Inspector General of Police, so they can take her case to him. I told her that
with such pressure the Police will release her because she didn’t commit any offence
that would warrant her arrest. A few days after that, the Police swooped on my
younger sister, Nzube and her husband and they took them to the Police station.
I didn’t know how they did it, but I called their numbers for two days and they
were switched off. It was then that I suspected that they have been arrested.
Immediately I called my mother in Bayelsa State and told her that the people
chasing me had apprehended my sister and her husband. Luckily my sister has
never been to my house in Magodo Estate, it would be difficult for her to lead
the Police to my place. I became confused. I didn’t know what to do.
Evans wife, Uchenna and kids For me,
I knew I was secured because I know how security agents track their targets but
I was scared of my boys some of whom didn’t know how to secure themselves. I
sent messages to some of my boys alerting them that security operatives were
clamping down on us and they should all be careful. I asked them to stop
sleeping in their houses and I also gave them tips on how to stay secured.
My girlfriend, Amaka ‘’One week
before my arrest, one of my girlfriends, Amaka, who lives in Okota called me
and demanded money. I asked her what she needed money for and she said there
was no food in her house, adding that her children were hungry. I was surprised
and suspected something must be wrong because I gave her N25, 000 for feeding
two days before she made that call. I asked her about the money I gave her
earlier, she said she had spent it. From that point, I suspected something was
wrong. Then I switched off the phone she was calling me with.
I had one special phone. Whenever the phone is
switched off I will receive messages from her asking why my phone was switched
off and she would be begging me to come and see her. At one point I called her
mother and told her that I was suspecting that something was wrong with Amaka.
I asked her to visit her house to confirm. Her mother sent someone there and
after spending about two hours with her, I was informed that she was alright
but she only needed money and they gave her N3000. That confirmed something was
wrong.
Amaka is the one that gives them
money, not the other way round. They couldn’t be giving Amaka N3,000 because I
know what I give to her. I became very drunk ‘’That singular action confirmed
my suspicions that policemen were with her. I called her and told her that I
had a feeling that there were policemen with her and they were trying to use
her to arrest me but she denied. I asked her to give the phone to her children
one after the other and asked them if there was any stranger in their house.
They all said there was none. I wasn’t convinced because I knew how the Police
do their job and how they think. I also knew that for a high-profile target
like me, the Police will do everything possible to get at me. A few days later,
my wife and children left for Ghana. Amaka was still calling and begging me to
send money to her. The night before my arrest, I lodged in a hotel in Okota,
close to her house and I could not sleep. I was busy drinking all night and I
became very drunk. At 4:am I summoned the courage to see her. Her house is
close to the road. When I got close to her gate, I stopped on the road and
called her, when she picked I asked her not to drop her phone. I said she
should stay on the call and meet me outside. She came bare-footed and was still
on the call. I opened the door, she came in and I drove off with her. When we
got far from the house, I took her phone and switched it off. I asked the
identity of the people in her house but she said there was nobody in the house.
I became angry, held her neck and I tried to kill her. She screamed and
confessed that the policemen had been with her in the past one week and they
were trying to use her to lure me. Instantly I pushed her out of my car and I
zoomed off. I was stupid ‘’While at Iyana-Ipaja, I saw some vehicles trailing
me seriously and thought that they were policemen. At a point, I lost control
of the vehicle and rammed it against a culvert on the expressway. I quickly abandoned
the car and took a trycicle to where I could get a cab that could take me to my
hotel. While in the hotel, I decided it was over and I needed to leave the
country as soon as possible. At 7:am I checked out of the hotel and called
someone to pick the car from where I left it. I took another taxi home. Evans
at one of the houses (Dens) in Ejigbo While in the house, I called an Uber taxi
driver to come and pick me from the house. The driver was to take me from my
house to Seme Border, where I would connect to Ghana, but while in the house
and I was packing my things into the Uber taxi, the police showed up at my
place and arrested me. I regretted going to see Amaka . I knew Amaka was used
to hunt me down, but I was stupid, I f**ked up. Going to see Amaka was my
biggest mistake. It made me fall. It brought my downfall. I ought to have been
at the front of that vehicle that took my family to Ghana.” How I beat security
operatives When SaturdayVanguard inquired from Evans on how he was able to
evade arrest during his reign, he said he knew the dangers associated with
kidnapping. Evans revealed that he maintained multiple identities, adding that
he ensured there were no pictures of him in circulation. He said: ‘’I beat
security operatives over the years because my system is a sensor that detects
problems. I don’t use charms of any kind but I developed the ability to detect
danger since my early days as an armed robber. That was why I was able to know
that the Police were close to me even when they haven’t informed me. I don’t
snap pictures. In fact, I don’t have any picture. Nobody on earth had my
picture before now. Even those who are very close to me don’t have my picture.
I don’t snap pictures ‘’My mother doesn’t have my pictures. My wife and
siblings don’t have them as well. My pictures are not in my house and that made
it difficult for security agents to apprehend me because they don’t know how I
look like. Another issue you may have to take into consideration is the fact
that I have numerous names for different people. My wife knows me as
Somtochukwu, while all my girlfriends knew me as Mike. My neighbors at Gowon
Estate knew me as George. ‘’I was also known as Sunny in Benin while in
Portharcourt, I was known as Richard. These are the reasons it was difficult
for policemen to track and arrest me. No one has my pictures and the names I
bear in Lagos weren’t the names I had in other states. Ifeanyi (calling our
reporter’s name), I would have been worse than this if I had proper education.
With education, I could have done worse things and be elusive. But thank God
it’s over and I have been stopped. I don’t collect ransom abroad ‘’ I don’t
give bank account to my victims because it could be traced. Whoever made the
allegations that he paid part of his ransom in South Africa isn’t sincere. I
would have been arrested and they should bring the account number they paid the
money into. The Interpol can trace the account and know the owner. I collect my
ransom in Nigeria and after collecting it, I also do not travel abroad. I
usually ask the people keeping my victims to tell them that I have traveled
abroad. I usually call my victims’ relatives with my satellite phones and
inform them that I was out of the country. This would make them relax a little
and after some time, I will ask my boys to release the victims and drop them
where they could locate their people.” I was fair to my victims Evans further
disclosed that he treated his victims fairly, adding that the only wrong things
he did were to chain, blindfold and detain his victim for months. He said he
was doing these because he wanted his victims to meet his demand. He added that
the only victim, who he treated wrongly was Mr. Cosmos Ojukwu, who he said he
collected an extra sum of $200,000, from after receiving an initial payment of
$1million. Evans said he threatened Ojukwu into paying the additional ransom of
$200,000 because members of his family paid the $1million he demanded swiftly
without wasting time. He said: “After he paid the $1million I demanded swiftly
than I expected more. I informed him while he was being released that I would
be collecting another ransom from him. I told him he would have to pay me an
additional $200,000 because the $1 million he gave me earlier were in old
currencies. I asked him to bring my balance. He felt I was joking, then I
informed him that I was not just going to kidnap him again, but would hunt his
entire family. He panicked and called me that he had raised the money. I asked
him to bring the money to Awka. When he got there I asked him to lodge in a
hotel, he obeyed me. At night I asked to bring the money to where I was. He
obeyed me and paid me the money. From that time I left him alone.