For seven years, suspected dare-devil kidnapper, Chukwudemeje George Onwamadike a.k.a Evans, escaped police dragnet. His escape during his daring kidnapping runs had conferred on him supernatural invincibility of sort. His reign, however, came to an end last Saturday, after a police special squad led by Abba Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), arrested him at his No 3, Fred Shoboyede Street, Magodo, Lagos home, after a fierce gun battle which lasted several hours.
An abduction carried out by his gang on February 14 this year had paved way for his demystification. On that day, which coincidentally was celebrated all over the world as St. Valentine’s Day otherwise known as lovers day, a pharmacist and the owner of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company, Ilupeju, Lagos, Mr. Donatus Dunu, was abducted by Evans’ gang. Dunu had barely left his office in the evening when he was blocked by a vehicle. Before he knew it, Evans’ gun-wielding men had stepped out of the vehicle and bundled the pharmacist into their vehicle and sped off to No 21, Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, a Lagos suburb where he was kept for three months.
Evans subsequently demanded the payment of a sum of one million euros as ransom. Despite efforts to make Evans see reason and reduce the money, he would have none of it, even after a sum of N100 million had been paid to him. It was either the money was paid or Dunu paid with his life.
While looking for the money, Dunu’s wife, who is also a director of the company, staff members organised prayers for the safe return of their boss. One of the workers said: “We did not only pray but engaged in fasting too. Who will not pray and fast if his or her boss was in such condition? It was really traumatic for us.”
Unknown to Dunu’s wife and his workers, the person who gave the information leading to Dunu’s abduction was one of the staff members of the company, identified as Emeka, who was employed about five years ago.
At the gang’s den in New Igando, where Dunu was kept, he had given up hope on the possibility of regaining his freedom. But he had a big break in the early hours of Friday, May 12, 2017, while his captors were deep in sleep. Despite losing his weight, Dunu managed to wriggle out of the leg-cuff he was held with. He was only wearing a pair of short and white singlet. A perimeter fence with broken bottles was to become a major obstacle to his escape, but the victim used his bare hand to manoeuvre the shattered bottles and climbed his way to freedom.
It was learnt that when he landed into an adjoining building, he was mistaken for a fleeing robber or cultist. Security guards raised the alarm which attracted neighbours to the scene and it was providence that saved him from being lynched by a mob.
One of the security guards who asked not to be named said: “I just came to my duty post that day when I started hearing the shout of ‘thief! Thief!’ I came out and saw this fair-complexioned man running towards me. I stopped him near that mini-tanker (he pointed at a decrepit stationary tanker). He was wearing only his boxer with his white singlet placed on his shoulder. There was fear in his eyes and he looked sick and traumatised. His body was blood-stained and there were injuries on his legs probably because he had been cuffed on his legs for a long time.
“Some people were unwilling to listen to him and they wanted to take him away. I said no, they should leave him here and instead call the elders of the community. I took him to the front of that Foursquare Church and told him to sit at the entrance of the church. I then asked how much the kidnappers were demanding from him and how much he had paid and he said they were demanding N500m and he had paid about N100m. I was shocked. We then took him to the Igando Divisional Police Station. Later that afternoon, the operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) returned with him to the street, but he was so tired and sick; he did not even come out of the vehicle. They broke into the compound but the kidnappers had escaped. So many things were discovered in the compound, including guns, a white bus and a power bike. I had never seen any power bike on this street before then.” (The Nation)