The Magodo Estate Residents Association has said that arrested kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onuamadike, aka Evans, must have lied about his occupation before acquiring his multi-million naira mansion in the high-brow area.
The Chairman of MRA, Mr. Kunle Eludire, told our correspondent that Evans, just like many others living in the estate, must have claimed to be engaged in oil and gas business while processing his acquisition of the property in the Government Reserved Area.
The notorious kidnap kingpin, who had been on police wanted list for about 10 years, was arrested at his residence along Fred Shoboyede Road, Magodo GRA Phase II, Lagos, last Sunday.
But until his arrest, the father of five was said to have been a quiet resident of the estate, who could barely be suspected of any criminal activities.
Eludire, however, said that many intending residents of the area usually claimed to do oil and gas business in order not to attract any suspicion regarding their acquisition of choice property in the estate.
The MRA chairman stressed that the kidnap suspect must have also told lies while processing his tenancy of the estate to beat any form of security check on his identity and background.
“When you are processing the tenancy thing within the estate, people interact with you. Majority of them do say they are into oil and gas. So, if somebody says he’s into oil and gas, definitely you will say he is capable to acquire the property. I have not met him before, but the zone he is, I am sure they would have interacted with him. He is not one of the executives of the zone,” he said.
Eludire also disclosed that since the arrest of the kidnap kingpin last Sunday, the association had been inundated with several calls from some residents of the estate expressing fears and suspicion about the real identity of their next-door neighbours.
“I support the scrutiny, but the best way that could be achieved is for people with credible information about suspicious activities in the estate to inform the police. I have received several phone calls from residents about their immediate neighbours. That doesn’t mean that we should not trust our neighbours,” he said.
The MRA boss called on the residents of the estate to be security conscious and watchful of their neighbours.
“Everybody should be aware of his neighbour. If you have a neighbour that doesn’t go to work in the morning , he goes out only i n the night, and you are not sure of the business he does, I think you need to report to the police,” Eludire said.
He added that the association would always support special security scrutiny to flush out bad eggs from the estate. Meanwhile, following the arrest of Evans, residents of the highbrow estate have urged the police to immediately commence the process of scrutinising the identity of the people living in the area.
They said that this had become imperative to ensure the safety of all residents of the estate. Our correspondent, who spoke with some residents, gathered that the dwellers of the area had yet to recover from the shock of Evans’ arrest.
A resident of Fred Shoboyede Road, who pleaded anonymity, said despite police presence on the street since the incident occurred, residents of the area had been living in fear. He disclosed that some residents of the area had already deserted their homes.
“Nobody will say he’s not surprised by the incident. We were all caught by surprise that we have been living with someone like that in this estate. Some people have even left their houses since the incident occurred because of fear. We hope that God will help us to arrest more evil men in this estate,” he said.
Another resident, who identified himself as Mathew Tailor, said, “This one will make all of us to be more security conscious of our neighbours. I never believed that such a person could be living with us in this estate with the way and manner at which security is beefed up. But we thank God and the police for their well-done job.
“And I will use this opportunity to tell police and government not to relent in scrutinising our people in this estate. As we are in this estate, you don’t know who is who; the association can only do little when it comes to this. But the police and government have powers to do the right check so that we can all be rest assured that we are safe in this estate.”
At the Nelson Nweke Zone of Magodo GRA, our correspondent gathered that the leaders of the residents in the area have begun a special security programme aimed at ensuring more protection for lives and property in the estate.
Bolaji Kazeem, a resident, said, “As you can see, security efforts have been more intensive in this estate since this issue happened than before. That is why you see that you cannot move freely on this street without been queried if you are not a known face.”
He added that the residents’ association had recently, out of suspicion, placed a ban on the commercialisation of buildings to prevent suspected criminals from infiltrating the area.
Meanwhile, our correspondent observed that Fred Shoboyede Road, the street where Evans was arrested on Sunday, had remained calm with only few of the residents venturing outside their homes.
Police operatives were also seen stationed in front of Evan’s mansion. Further checks by our correspondent also revealed some spent bullet shells littering the inside of the drainage running past the front of the house.
It was also gathered that until his arrest last Sunday, Evans, was a faithful worshipper at a popular Pentecostal church located within the estate.
