The co-defendant of the convicted kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike (popularly known as Evans), Victor Aduba, yesterday (Monday 25th July 2022) denied being involved in the alleged kidnapping offence.
Aduba, an ex-soldier is standing trial with Evans before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja over allegations of kidnapping a businessman, Sylvanus Ahamonu. The duo were said to have collected $420,000 in ransom from his family.
They are facing a four-count charge bordering on kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
However, when the matter came up for hearing, Aduba in his defence, told the court that he has never conspired with anyone to kidnap in his entire life.
Led by his counsel, Mr Emeka Ochai in his evidence-in-chief, the defendant narrated how he met with the co-defendant and insisted that he never conspired with anyone to kidnap in his entire life.
In his testimony, he said that he was a Lance Corporal in the Nigerian Army. He said he joined the Nigerian Army with his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSCE).
The SSCE holder told the court that he lived in Ojo Military Cantonment but worked in Abati Barrack in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos State.
He told the court that he was arrested in respect of the alleged kidnap cases on 24th June 2017 and denied knowing Evans prior to his arrest.
He said he was never involved in any kidnapping in his life and that he met Evans at the police station for the first time.
Explaining to the court how he was arrested with one Chukwuma Nwosu, who he got acquainted with at a park in Anambra State on his way to Lagos after Christmas in December 2015.
According to him, “after the military approved my leave to celebrate Christmas with my family in Onitsha, while I was waiting to board a car on my way to Lagos, I was in my military camouflage when one Mr Chukwuma Nwosu came to meet and offered to give me a ride to Lagos because of the military uniform I was wearing.
“He told me he was also going to Lagos. So, on our way, we passed through many checkpoints but the police did not stop him because I was in my military uniform.
“When we got to Lagos, he requested that I give him my number which I did and he said he would 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, we travelled three times and whenever we get back to Lagos, he would give me N20,000 and buys drinks for me at the bar.”
Aduba also told the court that he got a call from Nwosu on 24th June 2017 to meet him at a bar in the Cele Ago area which led to their arrest.
He told the court that when he got to the bar, five police officers in mufti came to arrest them.
“Nwosu told me that I should not worry about anything, that they forced him to call me. As I was asking him who forced him to call me, I struggled with them before they overpowered me and took me to their station.
“I was in the cell for eight days and one man came to meet me in the cell and told me to give him my personal information which I did. Five days after that, he came back to the cell and took me to the counter and I met the five men.
“They brought out a paper and they told me to sign it. I asked if I can go through the papers before I could sign them but they said no. One of the men, one Mr Idowu Haruna, suddenly gave me a dirty slap.
“They later took me to a place called the theatre (torture room). As they were torturing me, Mr Haruna injured me with a cutlass on the hand.
“Their boss, one Mr Phillips, ordered them to stop and they took me back to the cell. A day later, they chained my legs with other people 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 came back again to meet me in the cell, he said that I should please sign the papers which I refused. I told him that l should be allowed to speak with my family members to inform them of my whereabouts but he declined.
“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 also told the court that Kyari spoke with Haruna on the phone for a few minutes before he hung up.
“I succumbed to signing the papers after Haruna showed me the dead picture of three men, including the picture of Nwosu. I was forced to sign the papers because I was scared,”
Aduba was thereafter cross-examined by the state counsel, Mr Yusuf Sule. The defendant told the court that he had spent eight years in the military before his arrest and also pointed out that he had never gone to the war front and he was in the music department of the Nigerian Army.
The witness confirmed to the court that he was trained to handle any kind of weapon. When he was asked to show documents that he was tortured, he said, “I do not have any document to show that I was tortured because they did not care about my life.
“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.
After listening to his testimony, the trial judge adjourned the case until 25 August 2022 for the parties to adopt their final written addresses.