How Evans Killed and buried my father in the forest after collecting N15m ransom – Ex-Super Eagles player narrates [Photos]

To Iloenyosi family in Abagana Anambra state, 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 Emeka Iloenyosi(Aku luo uno Abagana), was kidnapped on his way back from mass.

His son, Chikelue Iloenyosi, former Super Eagles player who played professional football in France and Turkey, 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.

Chikelue Iloeyosi, Ex-Super Eagles striker

“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.”

Late Chief James Emeka Iloenyosi(Aku luo uno Abagana)

According to Chikelue, 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.”

Despite paying 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.

After four months of investigation into the kidnap, which 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.

Recall that Evans recently confessed how they intercepted a bullion van in Enugu.

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.

Chikelue 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.

The police later arrested Nonso's friend Awolowo and two others.

For many days, these suspects were said to have refused to confess.

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.

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.”

It was further 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.”

Chikelue said he was the happiest man in the world the day he heard Evans had been arrested. But he said he was particularly upset when he read that Evans was begging for his life with the excuse that he had never killed a victim before.

Culled from ThePunch.
Photos Credit: Google archives

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