Kidnap kingpin Evans pleads guilty


Suspected billionaire kidnapper Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, has told a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja that he accepted guilt as preferred against him by the Lagos State Government.
Evans was arraigned alongside his accomplices after 82 days in police detention on a two-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping.
Two other defendants: Uche Amadi and Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu similarly pleaded guilty, but three other defendants: Ogechi Uchechukwu, the only female arrested, as well as Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwunonso Aduba pleaded not guilty.

The presiding judge, Justice Hakeem Oshodi ordered that all the male defendants be remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prison and the female defendant in the Kirikiri Female Prison. 
The prosecution team led by Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem prayed the court for adjournment till October 19, 2017. 
The suspected kidnapper was alleged to have raked in millions of dollars as ransom paid to him by his victims’ families before his arrest on June 10, 2017. 
Evans had through his counsel Olukoya Ogungbeje filed for abuse of his fundamental human rights before a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court. He had argued that his continued detention since June 10 without charge amounted to an infringement on his fundamental human rights. 
He had argued that the respondents ought to have charged him to court in line with Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution. 

Source: Nuruddeen Oyewole

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