Bayelsa Kidnap Suspect, Accomplice Arraigned

Suspected kidnapper, John Ewa, aka John Lion, has been arraigned before a Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, on 14 counts bordering on kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy.

Ewa was arraigned alongside his alleged accomplice, Emmanuel Angese, on Wednesday.

Both of them were arraigned under Sections 2, 329 and 404 of the Bayelsa State Kidnapping and other Allied Offences Law, 2013.

The charges were read and interpreted to the two defendants in English Language and Pidgin English by the clerk of the court.

Both Ewa and Angese pleaded not guilty to all the charges, saying they understood the charges as read to them.

They were accused of kidnapping Danjuma Omeje, Akeem Olushola, Chinonso Ezeonyemere, one Chigozie, Ajanami Oyintari, Anthony Ajanami, Christiana Ajanami, and one Ebuka, between June 2020 and November 2021, and collecting various ransoms.

The ransoms reportedly ranged from N15m, N16.8m to N41m, N60m and N100m, which were paid to them in naira and dollar currencies at various times to free their victims.

The prosecution counsel and Director of Public Prosecutions in the state, Apulu Iyobosa, in an application, urged the court to order the remand of the defendants at the Okaka Correctional Centre in Yenagoa.

However, the counsel to the defendants, Adam Gbaranma, did not oppose the application.

The presiding judge, Justice Iniekade Eradiri, therefore, adjourned the matter to December 5 and 21, 2022, for trial and ruled that the suspects be remanded.

In September, the state police command paraded Ewa and Angese, alongside Innocent Kingsley and Timi Werikumo, for the alleged kidnapping of Danjuma Omeje, Akeem Olushola and others.

The police apprehended Ewa, a socialite in Abuja, and brought him to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.