A Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja on Monday fixed August 25, 2022, for parties to adopt their final written addresses in the alleged kidnapping charge slammed against suspected kidnap mogul, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans.
The court, presided over by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo arrived at the date after the defence closed its case.
Before the judge arrived at the date, a dismissed soldier, Victor Aduba, had informed Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo that he was never an accomplice to the crime of kidnapping made against Evans by the Lagos State government.
Aduba stated this while being led in evidence by his counsel, Mr. Emeka Ochai.
‘Evans’ is standing trial alongside Aduba, for allegedly abducting a businessman, Sylvanus Ahamonu, and collecting a sum to the tune of 420,000 dollars as ransom from his family.
They are both answering questions about a four-count charge bordering on kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
Testifying before the judge, Aduba who confirmed that he was arrested in respect of the alleged kidnap case on June 24, 2017, denied knowing ‘Evans’ before his arrest.
According to him, “My lord, I have never been involved in any kidnapping.
“I saw the defendant, (Evans), for the first time at a police station. I have never conspired with anyone to kidnap in my entire life.”
Aduba intimated to the judge that he got acquainted with one Chukwuma Nwosu, at a park in Anambra on his way to Lagos after the military approved his leave to celebrate Christmas with his family in Onitsha.
The dismissed soldier said: “After Christmas while waiting to board a car to Lagos, I was in my military camouflage when one Mr. Chukwuma Nwosu met me and offered to give me a lift to Lagos because of the military regalia.
“He told me he was also going to Lagos. On our way, we passed through many checkpoints, but we were not stopped because I was in my full regalia.
“We exchanged phone numbers, and he said he will let me know anytime he wants to travel so that I can accompany him. He also said that he has a truck that LASTMA usually extorts him whenever it spoils on the road and that he will need my assistance.
“Since then, he has travelled three times and whenever we get to Lagos, he gives me N20,000 and buys drinks for me at the bar.”
Aduba also made public that he got a call from Nwosu on June 24, 2017, to meet him in a bar which led to his arrest.
“When I got to the bar, Nwosu told me not to worry about anything. He said they forced him to call me. As I was about to ask him who forced him, five men approached us, and they told me I was under arrest. I struggled with them, but they overpowered me and took me to the station.
“I was in the cell for eight days. One man met me in the cell and told me to give him my personal information and I did. Five days after that, he came back to the cell and took me to the counter and I met the five other men.
“They brought out a paper, and they told me to sign. I asked if I could go through the papers before I could sign, but they said no.
“One of the men, Mr. Idowu Haruna, suddenly gave me a dirty slap. They later took me to a place called a theatre (torture room). As they were torturing me, Haruna injured me with a cutlass on the hand.
“Their boss, Phillips, ordered them to stop, and they took me back to the cell. A day later, they chained me and told us to enter a white bus.
“After a while, they took me back to the cell. Three days later, one of the men who came back to meet me in the cell, again told me to sign some papers. I told him they should allow me to speak with my family to inform them of my whereabouts, but he refused.
“The man said they will kill me if I refuse to sign the papers and then brought out his phone to speak with a man who introduced himself As DCP Abba Kyari, and he said if I refuse to sign the papers, they will kill me,” Aduba added.
The dismissed soldier further stated that Kyari spoke with Haruna on the phone for a few minutes before he hung up, even as he added that he succumbed to signing the papers after Haruna showed him the dead picture of three men, including the picture of Nwosu.
“I saw the corpses of three men on his phone, including the picture of Nwosu. I was forced to sign the papers because I was scared,” he added.
However, during cross-examination by the prosecutor, Mr. Yusuf Sule, the dismissed soldier said, “I do not have any document to show that I was tortured because they did not care about my life and I did not see any sign that there was a “theatre” in the cell, but their boss said they should take me to a theatre.
“The only thing I told the police was my personal information and my family information. I did not know where they got the information that I signed on from.,” he said.
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