Evans is a Nigerian kidnapper from Nnewi in Anambra State’s Nnewi North Local Government Area who was found guilty. He became well-known in 2017 after he abducted Donatus Dunu, the managing director of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd, and demanded 223,000 euros in ransom from his relatives. Little is known about the kidnapper’s early years; however, he had stated that he entered the profession when his father disowned him. Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike was his birth name. His mother was never supportive even though she knew he was a kidnapper. Evans refused to listen to her repeated warnings to halt what he was doing. He originally began his kidnapping operation in Anambra.
He started under the tenure of former Governor Peter Obi, but the heat forced him to move to Edo State. He relocated from Edo State to Lagos in 2013, where he rose to prominence as one of the leading kidnapping masterminds, controlling up to seven groups, making it difficult for the police to apprehend him. He would kidnap his victims and transport them to a leased flat in Igando with the assistance of his group. The victims would be held captive in House No. 21 Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, until their loved ones paid the ransom.
In an interview with Vanguard, Evans revealed that he was compelled to leave Junior Secondary School Class 2 after his father, Steven Onwamadike, divorced his mother, Chinwe, and weded someone else. Evans, a resident of Akamili, Umudim Quarters, Nnewi, Anambra state, clarified that he was urged to join another businessman in Nnewi who trades in spare parts by his father, a businessman. Sadly, things didn’t work out for Evans after he had been working for his master for five years. He was charged with stealing and was taken away without receiving payment.
He claims that his father kicked him out of the house because he was so ashamed by this turn of events. Evans claimed that the behavior of his father had a profound effect on him and that he felt compelled to move into his mother’s home. He claimed that in addition to accepting him, his mother had arranged money for him to come to Lagos. Evans claimed that when he was in Lagos, he began selling diesel to truckers and luxury bus drivers at the Alafia Bus Stop on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. He slept at a bus garage while selling diesel, and it was there that he became a member of a heist group. His initial band of thieves focused on targeting opulent coaches that travel along the East-West Road at night.
According to police sources, Evans was involved in multiple highway robberies from which he obtained sufficient funds to fund his trip to South Africa. A former Orile Police Station anti-robbery police officer, who requested to remain anonymous, claimed that Evans and his group were experts at robbing merchants in opulent buses that were traveling along the highway at night. The former police officer continued by saying that Evans had multiple informants at the Jibowu, Maza-Maza, and Alafia motor parks in Lagos State. He employed these informants, who worked in upscale bus parks around the nation, to get first-hand knowledge of the movements of traders arriving in Lagos State with enormous sums of money. The insider further revealed that Evans and his group would frequently ambush these busses on the highway, robbing the occupants of their money and other belongings. When the authorities were closing in on him and some of his gang members were eventually taken into custody, he left the nation, only to return a few years later and move to the East. He founded another violent gang while he was in the East, and they began robbing and kidnapping rich businesspeople, particularly in the commercial centers of Aba in Abia State and Onitsha in Anambra State.
As word of him spread among the criminal underworld, other robbery groups began to hunt him down. In this way, he came to be the armorer and funder of weaponry for Ngwu Ekekere Omu, the notorious and lethal armed robber leader from Nkanu in Enugu State. After receiving a tip from members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, in Awka, a military patrol unit in Anambra killed Ngwu Ekekere Omu, a bank robber who had operated throughout the nation. The majority of his gang members were hunted down and killed by members of the Special anti-Robbery Squad in the states of Enugu and Anambra after he passed away in 2009.
Evans later carried out a violent robbery operation in the university town of Nsukka, Enugu State. While being pursued along the Adani/Otuocha route, he shot the SARS Commander in Enugu in the knee, among other casualties. He also raided one of the banks during that operation, burning down the Nsukka Police Station. As he and his gang fled the scene, they threw bundles of crisp Naira notes in various denominations to the onlookers and commercial motorcycle riders, among them schoolchildren riding their way home.
According to police sources, Evans took an active part in that fatal operation. Later, after the gang members, including their boss, were killed, he fled the country once more. Sources claim that after his return, he turned to abduction full-time, using Lagos as his headquarters. Using the money he got from his crime, he used to pretend to be a South African trader of spare parts. Additionally, it was claimed that he took part in certain activities alongside another infamous murderer, Vampire, who was slain by the Police a few months ago after attempting to flee an Imo State court in Owerri while on trial.
Investigations eventually found that Evans later collaborated on many kidnappings in Anambra State with Henry Hunchman, another infamous kidnapper. Afterwards, they were driven from Anambra State and took refuge in Edo State. He said in a discussion with Vanguard that he joined forces with one of his colleagues in Edo state and they began kidnapping. He revealed that he had introduced him to numerous of his buddies, including Igbo Papa, Benin Papa, Odionose, and Okey, with whom he had planned multiple kidnappings. The abduction master added that he was compelled to ask his friend Hunchman, who he claimed had powerful weapons and ammo, to accompany them in Edo State.
As per his statement: “When Hunchman came in, we carried out two big kidnappings that yielded N150 million, but Hunchman who owned the arms and ammunition ran away with the money.” Subsequent inquiries also showed that Evans’ actions became so concerning that one of his main agents, Patrick Ejedawe, the Commander of Mopol 2 Squadron Command, Lagos, was dispatched to Edo State by the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to find him and his comrades. All of the gang’s members were apprehended by Ejedawe, who is currently an Assistant Commissioner of Police; Evans, Hunchman, and Sudo, however, escaped to Ghana. According to sources, the police were able to apprehend gang members with the help of betrayals within the group, which resulted in the deaths of members such as Benin Papa, Odionosa, Okey, Igbo Papa, and numerous other individuals who were gunned down by the police.
Vanguard’s source further revealed that once Ejedawe was transferred from Edo State to Lagos by a new Inspector-General of Police, Evans, Hunchman, and Sudo eventually returned to Nigeria and established themselves there. Evans was then caught after terrorizing the people of Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Ojo, and Ajao Estate in Lagos State with his gang. Evans, also known as Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, was taken into custody on Saturday, June 10, 2017. Following the arrest and parading of kidnap kingpin Evans on television, the people of Festac, Amuwo-Odofin, and the surrounding areas went into a frenzy of celebration.
Witnesses reported seeing large crowds of people pouring into the streets to give thanks to God and the police for apprehending the kidnapping mastermind who had been terrorizing them for a long time. After organizing multiple high-profile kidnappings, armed robberies, and murders in the states of Lagos, Edo, Abia, Enugu, and Anambra, the wealthy kidnapper was apprehended by the police. The state of Lagos placed a 30-million-naira bounty on him. However, a few weeks after other members of his gang, including his second and third in command, were apprehended at various sites around the nation, the infamous kidnapping kingpin, who had been on the police watch list for approximately seven years, came to an end.
Evans had been placed on the police watch list for seven years prior to his arrest. After he orchestrated the attempted abduction of Chief Vincent Obianudo, the proprietor of Young Shall Grow Motors in Festac, Lagos, in August 2013, the police issued a wanted poster. Evans used the money he made from his kidnapping enterprise to buy enormous residences at exorbitant prices. His two Mansions in Magodo GRA Phase 2 were valued at approximately N300,000,000, Evans is rumored to own another property in a posh neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa, that is valued at 50 million Rand. He is reported to have fled to his safe haven in South Africa while the search was at its peak.
Among many other possessions, he had two houses in the Highbrow neighborhood of Accra, Ghana, as well as exotic cars, pricey watches, and jewelry. Evans has five children with his wife, Uchenna Onwuamadike, whom he is married to. His spouse and kids used to live in Accra, Ghana. It is reported that a few years ago, his wife, who had been unaware of her husband’s dubious activities up until then, learned of them when she found bundles of cash and ammo in their Magodo home. After a number of confrontations, Evans and his group had just resumed their kidnapping operations. As a result, Mrs. Uchenna Onwuamadike fled to her home in Ghana with her kids. They moved to Canada from Ghana.
Evans and his group, who are thought to be the most infamous and wealthy kidnappers in Nigeria, are in charge of kidnapping well-known Nigerians in Lagos and numerous other states in the nation. He gets paid the ransom in US dollars. The largest ransom he ever received, in his account, was $1 million; it was paid on behalf of a Festac resident. He retains the victims at the aforementioned home till such payments are completed. According to reports, he takes care of the captives, giving them food and clothing while avoiding torturing them.
Evans was put on trial for fifty-two counts. Despite the fact that his trial was delayed because a scheduled witness failed to show up for the hearing. Following his conviction on all counts, he was given the death by hanging sentence. Two of his gang members had already received sentences totaling 41 years in Kiri Kiri prison.
