Police officers jostle for selfies with Evans

Men of the Nigeria police force that accompanied notorious kidnapping kingpin, Chukwdubem Onwuamdike, aka Evans, were jostling among themselves at a High Court in Lagos on Wednesday 30th of August to take selfies with the suspect.

Evans, 36, was arrested in a major police sting in June and has since been held in detention along with his alleged accomplices.

The charge sheet, seen by AFP, accuses a heavily armed gang of five men and one woman of kidnapping Dunu Donatus in February, holding him for 57 days and receiving a 223,000 euros ($266,000) ransom.

Judge Hakeem Oshodi ordered that he be remanded in custody until the start of the autumn trial after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

The group appeared in the High Court in Lagos looking solemn and cramped in the small dark wood panelled dock where they were flanked by members of the security forces.

Evans was himself the victim of a kidnapping in 2015 but was freed following the intervention of a gang leader, according to the Saturday Tribune newspaper.

Dozens of heavily armed officers surrounded Evans as he was transferred from the courtroom back to prison on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, his defence team allege that he has been denied access to his lawyer and family and that they were only made aware of Wednesday’s hearing through social media.

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“We intend to challenge this unconstitutional procedure for hoodwinking, undue influence, brainwashing and coercion,” said the statement by defence lawyer Olukoya Ogungbeje.

Kidnapping for ransom used to be confined to Nigeria’s oil-rich south, where criminal gangs would typically target expatriate workers.

But the practice has spread across the country as the economy has faltered, with Control Risks consultancy warning that the phenomenon has become “entrenched” nationwide.

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Nnamdi Obasi, senior Nigeria researcher at the International Crisis Group, said poverty had made “anybody” a target and had led to a rise in “spontaneous” kidnappings.

Most victims are usually released unhurt after ransom money is paid but the country still had the fourth highest kidnap rate in the world in 2016, according to Control Risks analysis.