Suspected kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike aka Evans, now in police custody, projected a curious image of a generous but reserved billionaire at his Magodo neighbourhood.
Yesterday, our correspondent visited the Magodo residence of Evans, where neighbours and artisans described him as “extremely generous, gentle and clean.”
The residents, including artisans, security guards and neighbours, said that they were yet to recover from the shock of Evans’ arrest. Some of Evans’ neighbours revealed that they know him in the neighbourhood as George.
They also said that they had never seen him with anyone in the neighbourhood as a friend.
One of the security guards in the community said that Evans always had his car stereo blaring music whenever he was either going in or leaving the estate.
According to the guard, he doesn’t waste time in engaging anyone in conversation. He said: “He just moved into the estate a year ago. We can’t tell much about him.
We noticed he was very secretive. We knew him as George and that was even through the people who worked for him.”
Some of the artisans in the area, who Evans used to engage for repair works in the house including electricians, air conditional repairers, among others, said they had been working for him since he started residing in the highbrow Magodo Brooks Estate.
According to an electrician, a Beninese, who craved anonymity, Evans used to engage him to fix the electrical appliances in his former home where he said he was living with his wife and children.
He said: “That was about two years ago. Whenever he called me for work, I knew I would get double the quotation.
He was very generous. Unlike other customers, whenever he was given quotation, he would ask if I was sure the money would be enough for quality work. He always doubles money for work.”
A source in the area said that he just got to know why Evans moved out of his former apartment. “I just learnt that Evans moved out of a more secured estate because of the security in the estate and the calibre of people who live there,” the source said.
Another source said that a popular car wash on the CMD Road was where Evans used to wash his cars.
The source added that whenever Evans was at the carwash, he would not come down from any car he brought throughout the hours the washing would last.
The source added: “Even when the inner part of the car was to be cleaned, he would not step out of the car. But before he leaves, he would call on the most popular person in the carwash and sought his help to go to bank for him. He may give the person millions of naira to pay into about 10 different people’s accounts.
The messenger could be given as much as N1 million as ‘dash.’ He was quite generous.”
Meanwhile, a police officer and men of the Magodo Estate security guards were yesterday on guard at Evans’ house, monitoring events and movements of the people in the area.
The story was a bit different at Evans’ Igando home, where residents described him as always disturbing with loud music.
The bungalow building is located at Asaye community. It was learnt that Evans and his men rented the building from a lawyer.
The owner of the building is late, while his children are all overseas.
The children handed the property to the lawyer to manage for them. According to them, they knew something was brewing when the police Anti-Kidnapping Squad stormed the building recently and recovered a cache of arms abandoned by Evans and his fleeing members.
A resident said: “Since that building was rented, the owner always used to play loud music. It was very distracting.”
Another resident, who did not want his name in print, said he couldn’t believe that a kidnappers’ hideout was in their community.