How Evans kidnapped, killed my 86-year-old father after collecting N15m – Ex-Super Eagles player

When news broke that suspected
notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudubem
Onwuamadike (AKA Evans) had been
arrested in Lagos by the police on June
10, many people celebrated the security
agencies that made it happen.
But far less known was the celebration it
produced in the compound of the
Iloenyosi family of Abagana, Anambra
State.
For this family, the news of Evans arrest
was a personal victory.
It all began one early morning on
November 25, 2013 when the patriarch of
the family, Chief James Iloenyosi, was
kidnapped on his way back from mass.
His son, Chikelue Iloenyosi, former Super
Eagles player who played professional
football in France and Turkey, has not
been able to get over what happened to
his father. He narrated the event that
quickly became a game of hide and seek
between criminals and the law
enforcement agents.
He told Saturday PUNCH in an emotion-
laden tone that his father, who was 86 at
the time, was on his way back from their
local Catholic church when three SUVs
double-crossed him and whisked him
away.
He would never see his father alive
again.
“When they took him away, they did not
talk to us until after five days. They
phoned my twin sister. She was sobbing
when she called me that the kidnappers
had made contact.
“When we the children gathered, my
sister called the kidnappers again and
they simply told us that they would call
back. They did not call back until after
another five days just to build our
anxiety.”
The N50m ransom negotiation
According to Chikelue, with no idea what
could be going on with his father, the
kidnappers on the morning of the fifth
day called to demand a ransom of N50m.
The routine of begging and pleading for
the reduction of the ransom started at
this point and after many days, they
eventually reduced the ransom to N15m.
Chikelue said, “When we paid the N15m,
my father was already dead and we did
not know.
“What made me upset was that despite
how seriously we worked to get him
back, my father did not come out of it
alive.”
But upon payment of the ransom, the
kidnappers said they were not releasing
their victim until the family brought
more money. But they never heard from
the kidnappers again.
Breakthrough arrests four months later
However, after four months of
investigation into the kidnap, said to
have involved hundreds of policemen in
Anambra State combing the forest at the
time, security agencies got a break when
a member of the gang that kidnapped
Chikelue’s father, a suspect known as
Nonso, was arrested along with three
other members of his gang.
Chikelue said at the time, Evans was
already a popular criminal well known to
the State Anti-Robbery Squad of the
Anambra State Police Command.
He was said to be a wanted robber
known for hitting bullion vans.
“The SARS boss in Anambra told me at
the time that any suspect arrested for any
major crime always mentioned the name
of Evans,” he said.
According to him, the family had to
involve a private investigator in the case
at a point when there was no longer
news about their father’s whereabouts
months after the family paid the ransom.
In addition to this, he said a friend of his
based in Israel helped to track his
father’s line and traced it to a young
lady, who said Nonso was his boyfriend.
Chikelue told Saturday PUNCH, “When
we arrested the girl, she said Nonso only
gave her the phone for safe-keeping,
instructing her not to put it on. We
started tracking Nonso. At a point, the
current leader of the IRT, Abba Kyari,
gave us 18 of his men to follow us to
Cotonou, Benin Republic because our
trace on Nonso’s line showed he was
there.
“We got there and the police arrested a
young man, who said he came to buy a
car. He said the number was not his and
that he only wanted to use it to call
somebody in Nigeria. The police had to
let him go when it was clear he knew
nothing.
“Later we left the Cotonou guy. Again,
our private tracker traced him to Lokoja,
Kogi State.”
Evan’s gang member arrested in Lokoja
However, intelligence later suggested that
Nonso was in Lokoja.
According to him, he and other members
of the gang were said to have relocated
there immediately they shared the
ransom because many security agencies
were after the gang.
Chikelue said after identifying the hotel
the suspect might be hiding in, some
members of the SARS team in Kogi State
moved in to make the arrest.
He said, “I was in Lokoja for two months
with a private tracker before we arrested
Nonso.
“When we got to the hotel with the
police that day, we requested for the list
of the people staying at the hotel. The
hotel staff mentioned a “small boy” with
his girlfriend in one of the rooms.
“We knocked on the door and the
girlfriend came out. He said her
boyfriend was in the bathroom. But I was
hearing a sound inside. He was trying to
escape through the window but SARS
operatives were already stationed
around the hotel.
“He eventually came out and said his
name was Emmanuel. But I knew it was
him right away because we had been
able to obtain his photograph ahead.
“But because I did not want him to
panic, I pretended it was not him and
told the SARS operatives in his presence
that the person we were looking for was
an older man.
“He relaxed and was going inside when I
called him and said I wanted to ask him
something. I dialled his phone number
there and then when it rang, we took it
and it showed the name ‘Kidnapper
football’. The SARS operatives
immediately pounced on him and
handcuffed him.
“I asked Nonso if he knew me, he said he
did not. I told him I was the footballer
whose number he saved with that name.
He then asked if I was ‘General’ – my
alias – and I said yes.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that as soon as
Nonso was arrested, he became
submissive.
He reportedly pleaded for his life, saying
he would provide any information the
police needed.
“He immediately told us that his leader
was Evans. But he said there was no way
we could get Evans because he had fled
to Lagos after the completion of the
operation. At this point, Nonso kept our
hope alive. He said my father was still
alive. He refused to give precise
information,” Chikelue told our
correspondent.
The ex-footballer said he was very
hopeful at that point and believed he was
indeed going to get his father back alive.
Nonso, who was transported back to
Anambra in the company of SARS
operatives later provided the police with
Evans’ phone line, with which they
started tracking him.
When the police team got to Anambra
with the suspect, he reportedly began to
plead not to be taken to SARS
headquarters in the state for fear of
being tortured and killed. He said he was
willing to give up all the necessary
information.
Nonso told the police that Evans was
always on the move after each operation.
Chikelue said, “We were calling Evans to
pinpoint his location but it was all
abortive. Nonso was later made to call
another member of the gang called
Awolowo to inform him that there was
an operation.
“But Awolowo said he did not want to do
any operation at the time because his
wife had just put to bed. Nonso said
Awolowo was part of Evans’ Asaba, Delta
State group.”
Suspects refused to confess
The police later arrested Awolowo and
two others.
For many days, these suspects were said
to have kept mum.
It was learnt that they refused to divulge
any information about Evans, which the
police suspected was owing to the fact
that they had taken an oath.
In fact, one of the suspects, who was on
the verge of confessing was said to have
suddenly started acting like someone
with a mental illness.
Even Nonso’s girlfriend who was also
arrested was said to have refused to give
any information that could implicate her
boyfriend.
“The most shocking thing was that when
the police interrogated Nonso, he said
that if the SARS ever wanted peace in
Anambra, they should kill the lady. He
said she was the one responsible for
taking care of the gang and that she
helped them buy drugs and collected
ransom on their behalf,” Chikelue said.
But he said while all these were going on,
his only concern was knowing his
father’s whereabouts.
One day, while Chikelue was at the SARS
office, he found a sudden ally in an
armed robbery suspect called Onyeso,
who was detained there.
Chikelue said, “He pulled me aside and
said, ‘My brother, you are a good man
because you always give money so that
the police could buy us food when you
come here’. He said he wanted to give
me a privileged information.
“He said if we wanted any result, we
should take Awolowo to the backyard
and tell the police to shoot their gun in
the air as if they had killed him. He said
the other one would start confessing
because they had indeed taken an oath.
“When the police did this, Nonso started
confessing when he was told Awolowo
had been killed. He said he would take
us to where my father was buried.
“We journeyed into the forest for three
and half hours before we got to where
they buried him. I broke down and my
sister who was there at the time fainted.”
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the late Pa
Iloenyosi was buried around Nneyi
village in Umueri community.
But most heartbreaking was the
information that the old man might have
been starved or beaten to death.
When Nonso was asked how the old man
died, he explained that it was the fault of
those manning the hideout where Evans
kept the man.
Pa Iloenyosi was said to have been
stripped to his underwear, kept in a cold
room and beaten regularly in order to
put more pressure on his children.
Chikelue said, “While we were
negotiating for ransom, they would call
and put the phone on speaker so I could
hear how they beat him. My father would
cry and beg me to find a way to ensure
his freedom.
“We buried him few days after we found
his body and started the search for
Evans. One of the vital information
Nonso gave us was that they were on
their way to a robbery when they got
information about my father and they
diverted to Abagana to kidnap him. So, I
was really particular about the arrest of
Evans so that he could tell us who in our
community gave them the information.”