A 53-year old man, who claimed to
be a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Okpara Linus
has narrated how he prevented billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike
popularly known as Evans, from kidnapping his kinsman.
Okpara, who himself was arrested
for providing information to Evans, claimed he was deceived into crime by the
kidnap kingpin.
He told Vanguard thus: “I visited
my home town in 2014. When I was travelling to Lagos State I took a car at
Asaba. The driver of the vehicle identified himself as Doctor. He told me he
was a drug peddler and promised to assist me with building contracts. He told
me that he would link me to some of his rich friends.
“A few days later I got a call
from a man who identified himself as Nnwachinemelu, who told me that doctor
gave him my number.
“He asked me what I was into and
I told him. We agreed to meet. We met at Ajao Estate, Lagos where he told me
that there was a man trading at Trade Fair Complex, who was indebted to him. He
said he needed me to monitor the man so that he would arrest him.
“He sent a bike to pick me up and
asked that I should wait on Trade Fair Bridge and look out for the man because
he had told me the colour and the plate number of the man’s vehicle.
“When I sighted it, I called him
and he asked me to follow the man. When we got to Alakija, we watched the man
as he entered Festac Town. He asked us to go back, saying he would take care of
the situation from that point. He asked me to go home and two days later he
sent N2million into my bank account.
“About seven months after then he
called again and told me that the bike man would come to my house and would
take me to a place in Agbara. He said I would help him monitor the movement of
a man.
We got to Agbara and waited until
the man, started leaving his office and we followed him down to Alakija. Evans
asked me to pull back again, saying he would take care of the situation. Two
months later he called me and paid N700, 000 into my account.
‘’A few weeks after then, he
asked me to go to Abule-Oshun to monitor the movement of a man who had an
office there. I monitored the man and discovered that I knew the man, who is
Mike Umuberede.
“I refused to give him complete
information about the man because I knew him and he is from my home town. The
man is the owner of Super Master electrical appliances and he had once helped
me when my father fell sick.
“I told Evans that I knew the man
and he must not kidnap him but Evans got angry with me. Evans said all his men
were on standby, saying they were ready to kidnap the man. I lied to him that I
had alerted the man and he has contacted the Police.
“He cursed me for betraying him
and threatened to kill all the members of my family. He stopped communicating
with me from at that point.
“When I heard he was arrested I
was glad because he is a beast and a very greedy man. I learned from the
newspapers that he collected millions of dollars as ransom and he gave me peanuts.
I didn’t know the Police would come after me. But I regret my actions and would
turn a new leaf. But I am happy Evans has been arrested.’’