A
wealthy Nigerian businessman has recounted how notorious kidnapper,
Chukwudi Onuamadike aka Evans and his gang members abducted him and made
him pay them $1.2m ransom.
Nigerian businessman, Chief James Uduji has revealed how he paid Evans and his gang members the sum of $1.2 million
A Nigerian businessman has narrated how he paid notorious
kidnapper, Chukwudi Onuamadike aka Evans and his gang members the sum of
$1.2 million for his release, according to a report by Vanguard.
Narrating the ordeal, Chief James Uduji said:
"on September, 2015, as I was coming back from my factory in
Agbara to my home in Festac, arriving Seventh Avenue, I saw four gun
men. They stopped in front of my vehicle and started shooting while I
was with my two drivers in my Hilux pickup.
I was sitting at the back, thinking they were policemen. I was
wondering why they were shooting and charging at us not knowing that
they were kidnappers. In the process, they shot us, me and two of my
drivers but luckily, nobody died. I still have a bullet in my body. By
the time I realized they were kidnappers, they dragged me out of my
vehicle to their own Lexus 470 Jeep. Inside their Jeep, there were lots
of arms and ammunition inside a box. They had another box at the back
where they put me in.
Four guys were inside that Jeep, well-armed, even the driver
had his own AK-47 riffle. They drove past Festac Link Bridge to
Amowu-Odofin, around 4:30pm as if they were going to Okota. Later, they
came out to Oshodi -Apapa Expressway. By this time, they had not
blindfolded me but they pushed my head down, lying bare on the floor of
the car. One of them just held me as I was seriously bleeding. I never
knew I would survive this. I couldn’t remember the places they took me
to because I was lying down.
After a long journey, they stopped at a particular area, those
guys jumped down and another group came on board and zoomed off again.
As we were going, we got to one house, they called the security guard
who came and opened the gate, and they brought me out, gathered water,
changed their cloths and called one doctor, whether he was quack or not,
I do not know. They told the doctor they had emergency. The doctor
came, washed me and treated my wound. That was the first thing they did.
Though, when we were about to get to where they wanted to take
me to, they blind folded me. They were administering two injections on
me daily. When I asked them the kind of injection they were giving me,
they said it was anti tetanus injection and pain reliever. They refused
to give me water saying that if you have bullet in your body, you don’t
drink water. The second day, Evans came there with the doctor and said
to me that, he came there because of me. Yet, I did not set my eyes on
him. Maybe, the person that asked them to kidnap me told them that they
should not let me die. I said this because of the kind of treatment they
were giving me or maybe, it could be because of my wound. But, I was
seriously bleeding. At a point, they were thinking of exchanging me.
They called my brother to come and let me go out and treat myself of the
bullet wound. My elder brother accepted to come but backed out at the
end because those people, you never know what they planned. May be their
plan was to capture the two of us before they would kill us.
It was an ugly situation. They injected me for seven good days.
From that Monday till the next Sunday, every two days, there was a
particular guy that came there to treat my wounds, dress it and put the
bandage again. After some days, Evans called.
How they operate
How they operate is that, they keep a hostage keeper, which is
someone that would be guiding kidnap victims so that any time their boss
wants to call, he would call that person. When he calls the person, the
person would bring the phone to the victim and hold the phone for you
talk to him. They were always communicating. They did not maltreat me
because of my condition but I heard them maltreating the victim in the
other room with hot iron and the person would be crying. Before they
start that, they would go and put on their generator so that their
neighbours would not be hearing. That guy was a terror.
Feeding pattern
They were feeding me with one useless Indomie. I was just
managing to eat to keep my life moving. They asked what kind of drugs I
was taking but I told them I was not on drugs. I did not make trouble
with them but there was a day I tried to escape. I was scared whether
all the neighbours were their gang members or not. Again, even if I
would have escaped, I would have been naked because before you go to the
bathroom, they take away your boxers. When you finished, you knocked at
the door and turned your face to the wall as they gave you your boxer
to wear.
They would blind fold you and put you in chains again. Early
morning I used to hear siren and I thought, that it was police that were
coming to rescue me. At the end nothing would happen. They would go.
What were they coming to do there around 4:00 am to 5:00 am? I noticed
that five times and I asked myself, “what the police are coming there to
do?”. I also noticed there was a construction site nearby where people
were working. One particular day, one boy came in and asked “mummy,
who is this uncle?”. I was listening and waited to hear what the woman
would say but she did not say anything. So, that couple that was paraded
were there. I was praying every minute of the day, waiting for anything
that would happen the next day. It was traumatising . So many things
happened. I knew that, nothing would happen to me but they would charge
me more money. You know, I paid $1.2 million. We paid it in three
instalments. We paid two hundred thousand dollars, eight hundred
thousand dollars and another two hundred thousand dollars. He claimed
that, the first two hundred dollars we paid had been cancelled because
we set them up by inviting security agents to be tracking them. That’s
how we were accused and that the payment had been rubbished. He bargains
with the victims, he doesn’t bargain with the families. Whatever he
asked for that is what the family would pay. A person that is under
chain, what would he say? Anything they asked you to do, you just had to
do it because of your life. That was not joke, they meant business. If
you refused to corporate, they would kill you. I am sure; they have
killed some people there. I stayed there for six weeks. I was abducted
on the 7th of September and I was released on the 19th of October,
2015.
What led to my release?
After I had finished paying the ransom, they still kept me for
another eight days. My people were worried, and I was worried too
because I did not know what was going on outside. They had cut off
communication with everybody. Immediately, he collected his ransom, he
travelled abroad. He goes outside to keep his ill-gotten wealth, which
was obvious. I now asked the hostage keeper, how long it takes them to
release a hostage. He said four days, I now asked again, but why am I
still here? He then said I should not worry, that the chairman travelled
and that I would be released as soon as he returned. He said that I
should see myself as a free man and relax. The man was a greedy man. Of
all the money we paid him, he didn’t feed us well. His duty, I observed,
was to collect money and drop victims. When he came back to Nigeria, he
came to me where I was detained by his men and said to me that, today,
you will go. He ordered his boys to bring all my belongings. My Rolex
watch, my bag, my golden ring and my sandals were nowhere to be found.
Not to talk of cash because all of them were criminals. All other
valuables were gone. They only brought my cloths, bank cheque books and
seals and a polythene bag. And for my sandals, they bought one bathroom
sleepers for me. Just imagine someone coming back from his office.
Then, he asked me to hold on till the road was free; it was about 5:00
pm.
How Evans promised to attend my thanksgiving in church
As I was waiting, he came back and called me, Nnwa which is my title name. Any time he wanted to talk to me he first called me Nnwa. When he saw my wound, he said, I was a lucky man. That, my God is a great God. He said that, I would live up to hundred years for surviving that gunshot. I asked him why they were shooting us like that. He said in war all was fair. I then asked “you and who were fighting?. Did I have gun with me?”. Evans now asked who was the person in front of my car. That was when they thought I was a policeman. In fact they would have killed my driver if he were a policeman. When he came down and they asked him, he told them he was just an ordinary driver. That was when they left him. He advised me to buy a lot of drinks because many people would be coming to sympathize with me. He stressed that people were already waiting for my arrival. He said: “Any day you are going to do thanksgiving, we are going to be there.” I now asked him, how would I know you will be there? He replied that, I shouldn’t worry; he would come and follow me to thank God. “Nnwa, but your God is great oh”.
All these things he was talking, my mind was not there because I
knew he was wicked. That evening, he brought ten thousand naira that I
should take it. That if, they drop me anywhere, I should use it to enter
taxi to my house. Or if I wanted, they could drop me in a nearby hotel
so that, I could call my people to come and carry me. But I told him to
just drop my anywhere he wanted. When it became dark everywhere, they
took me out of that house and moved me round the city before finally
dropping me around Lagos State University (LASU, side in Iyana Oba. Even
to walk was a problem because, I had been in chains for long and all my
bones had grown weak. I almost fell down while trying to cross the road
because of my wobbling legs. I lost so much energy that, I became weak,
lean and tired.
Suya was the first thing I ate after my release from captivity
I called a motorcyclist to take me to any nearby bus stop,
which he did. When I turned the other side, I saw one man selling
roasted meat (Suya), I went to him and bought the meat for one thousand
naira and started eating. My action was to soften the ground for me to
start asking question that would let me know exactly where I was as by
this time I never knew where I was exactly. I asked the man, how I could
get to Mile 2, and he said before you get to Mile 2, you first of all
get to LASU. I asked again, how I could I get to LASU, he told me to
cross the road to the other side and enter any bus that was going that
way. As soon as I entered the bus, I switched on my phones and there
was no single credit on my phones except the one we used as a company
group. That one doesn’t need credit because we pay once in a month. I
now used it to call one of my managers. Immediately he saw my call, he
knew I was out and asked me where I was so that he could come and carry
me. I told him to come to LASU, I got there and was waiting for him. He
was coming from Agbara axis. While there, I strolled down a bit to buy
orange, one man just came to me that I should give him money in spite of
my tattered appearance. I took two thousand out of the ten thousand
Evans gave to me and gave to him. I was kind of hiding so that people
who knew me before would not notice me until I got home. When my manger
came, he took me straight to the house after that, I went to report
officially to the police. Even the commissioner of police came to my
house after that. After that incident, I requested for police protection
which I was later provided with. I was so happy when I heard that, the
guy has been arrested. I thank the Nigeria police for doing a great job.
That shows that, if the police want to work, they could work."
Subscribe to Tonygists by Email
Reliance Training and Management Consulting, a dynamic, fast growing indigenous entity, was established and duly registered with the aim to nurture, develop and innovate people and organisations through customized training, development and management consulting services, with excellent performance, deep sense of commitment, transparency, honesty and responsibility, to demonstrate the highest standard of technical and operational expertise.
Reliance is competently positioned to provide technical knowledge and skills relevant to practical management and business problems, to stimulate the creativity and innovation necessary to build a better community, a better nation and a better world with a committed mind set to contributing our best to the maximization of personal potentials and skills toward optimizing productivity and achieving organisational goals.
for more information click RELIANCE TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
No need to visit Tonygists just use the android application click for more info Tonygists android application
Visit some of the website built by tonygists
1. south south penpushers : south south pen pushers
2. kingdom builders : Kingdom builders
Tonygists bro: honest zone
Are You On youtube? subscribe to Hot GIST Channel Latest Updates - @Hot Gist
Are You On youtube? subscribe to Gospel World (which is also owned by Tony Gists) youtube Channel Latest Updates - @Gospel world
Are you on audio mack? Follow Tonygists on audio mack to listen and download to the latest Mfm sermons Latest Updates - @Tonygists
Follow Tonygists on LinkedIn to get more jobs opportunities Latest Updates - @Tonygists
Are You On youtube? subscribe to Honest Ose Channel Latest Updates - @Honest Ose
Are You On youtube? subscribe to Honest Web Solutions Channel Latest Updates - @Honest Web Solutions
Are You On youtube? subscribe to Xtremely Honest Channel Latest Updates - @Xtremely Honest
Are You On Twitter? Follow Us Now For Latest Updates - @tonygists
Are You On FACEBOOK? Like Our Page For Latest Updates - tonygists
Are You On FACEBOOK? Join Our Group For Latest Updates And Interactions - TonyGists
© 2024 Tonygists | Portions are © 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.
