The controversy surrounding ongoing
investigation of alleged billionaire
kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike
a.k.a. Evans, appears to be generating more
steam, with his wife, children and parents
now demanding to see him as a means to
douse their fears that he may be dead after
all.
Saturday Sun had last weekend reported
exclusively how Evans was moved out of his
Lagos police command cell at midnight and
driven to Abuja by about 30 heavily armed
policemen. Though the police initially kept
quiet following enquiries about the
suspect’s whereabouts, they however
officially confirmed our report the following
day, that Evans had indeed been removed
discreetly from Lagos to Abuja for further
investigation.
Following the clandestine movement and
the furore generated, Evans family is now
expressing doubts on whether he’s still alive
and as a result demanding to see him while
accusing the police of deceiving the public
by dishing out mischievous and misleading
information instead of carrying out
thorough investigation on the suspect’s
alleged misdeeds.
Their lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, who said
he has a written brief from the family to
represent them in the matter told Saturday
Sun that latest efforts being made by Evans’
wife, children and parents to see him to be
sure he is still alive are being thwarted by
the police.
A member of the family based in the
Southeast who pleaded anonymity for safety
reasons said; “We are scared something
terrible may have happened to him because
of the way police has handled this matter so
far especially the way his movement from
Lagos was shrouded in secrecy. How would
we have known if not your paper (Saturday
Sun) which exposed the move in your report
last weekend?”
The family member further said that “from
our own investigation, we learnt he was
first dumped in an underground cell at the
force headquarters in Abuja. Though we
have also heard that he has been moved to
a secret location believed to be the FCID cell
in Garki area of Abuja, we are yet to confirm
that or his exact location and wellbeing as
we speak.”
Speaking with Saturday Sun, Ogungbeje said
the police went to obtain a court order to
detain Evans for three months after he had
already instituted a court action against his
detention.
He said: “The police are only playing the
ostrich. Do you know as his lawyer, I have
been denied access to him, do you know
that the father, his mother, his wife and
children have been denied access to him?
“The police are not telling the truth. Why
have they not published the court order they
claimed to have got? Let them name the
judge. They are only misinforming the
public. They are not bold enough to publish
the order. In short, they don’t have it.
“The police have been mischievous. There is
more to it than meet the eye. The matter is
in court and we should allow the court to
handle the case and wait for the outcome of
the matter”.
According to him, all the media attacks to
stop him from representing Evans and his
family cannot stand, while he urged the
police to do a thorough job in accordance
with the constitution, saying that, “we are
not saying that we want to ensure that our
client escapes justice at all costs. What we
are saying is that we were given letter of
representation and properly briefed and we
have the claim to represent him within the
confines of the law.
“As we speak, there is no single evidence of
the matter, do you know that there is no
single witness in that matter, do you know
that no single case file has been opened on
that matter?”
While saying that the police are resorting to
crude tactics because they know they don’t
have any evidence to press charges against
Evans, the lawyer challenged them to charge
him and see how flat their case will fall.
“He has been moved to Abuja. Someone that
we did not have access to while in Lagos
Police Command, how do you think that we
will be able to access him in Abuja? The
police keep on brainwashing him, they keep
on threatening him, they keep on deceiving
him. Take him to court, that is what the law
says”.
On Evans family next line of action, he said,
“we will bring the necessary application for
the court to compel the police to produce
Evans in court at the next adjourned date”.
