The Nigeria Police Force has said Eric Ezeala, the second-in-command to alleged billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, died when he was about to take officers to the armoury of the gang.

The police stated this while testifying before the Justice Suleiman Galadima-led independent panel sitting in Abuja, on how Ezeala died in detention.

Ezeala, according to Assistant Superintendent Izuka Eguzokibe, was arrested in 2017 by officers of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, following a confession by Evans.

He told the panel that Evans named Ezeala as not only his accomplice in his notorious business of kidnapping but also his right hand man and second-in-command.

Eguzokibe said Evans, to substantiate his claim, gave out Ezeala’s phone number, which was forwarded to the Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU) Force headquarters.
According to the witness, the first time the phone number was tracked, it indicated that Ezeala was hiding somewhere in Osun State.

He told the panel that when investigators arrived at the identified hideout, the suspect managed to evade arrest.
Eguzokibe said the second time the phone number was tracked, it led his team to Ehime Mbano in Imo State, where Ezeala was eventually arrested at about 5pm on July 17, 2017.

He said the suspect was, upon his arrest, taken to the Imo State Police Command, where he confessed that he was Evans’ accomplice.
“The suspect was thereafter transferred to Abuja where Evans was kept at that time. When we got to Abuja, both Evans and Eric Ezeala acknowledged each other as partners in the kidnapping business.

“He (Ezeala) was then detained in the IRT cell,” the witness added.
The witness told the Justice Suleiman Galadima-led panel that in the course of investigations, Ezeala fell sick twice and was hospitalised.

He said the suspect later died at the Ikeja General Hospital while receiving treatment for the second time.
Eguzokibe further told the panel that Ezeala’s wife had, in the course of the investigation, claimed that she was not aware of the kind of business or activities her husband was involved in as he was hardly around.

The witness added that Ezeala had before his death, after he was taken to Lagos, showed the IRT where his gang usually kept their kidnapped victims.
He said it was when Ezeala was to take the investigating team to where the gang stored the arms and ammunition they use for their operations, that Ezeala fell sick for the second time and was taken to the Ikeja General Hospital, where he eventually died.

Asked if an autopsy was conducted on the deceased to ascertain the cause of his death, the witness told the panel that his wife and family members refused to show up for the process.

“There was no way the police was going to conduct the autopsy without the consent and presence of the family,” he added.

Meantime, the panel, which is investigating human rights violations by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, and other units of the Nigeria Police Force, adjourned to issue its final report on a petition family of the deceased lodged before it.