The arrest of Chukwudi Onuamadike, the most high-profile kidnap kingpin in Nigerian crime history a few years ago, got us all talking. Several social and news platforms had images, even videos of Evans; his gang and of course, his luxurious houses plastered in our faces.
While a few were applauding the police for this great capture (they had been on his trail for more than four years,) I came across comments asking the police to go find Madam Evans and jail her as well as she is equally guilty whether by association or perhaps she could also have been a crucial member of her husbandโs kidnap ring.
This reminded me of the movie I watched with my friend. The movie directed by Woody Allen is titled Irrational Man (2015) in which the character of Joaquin Phoenix committed a daylight murder when he poisoned a judge in a park and thought he would get away with it.
His love interest, played by Emma Stone, finds out and insists he turn himself in to the authorities.
I had an argument with my friend over this; I felt she has a right to make him own up; he thought it wasnโt her business if he did or didnโt.
I am not sure how a wife should truly act when confronted with situations like this. Perhaps what should happen is a rewind; why would a woman marry a kidnap kingpin? She must have caught a whiff of what he was about when they dated. Ok, so maybe he got into it after marriage, what should she do?
Threaten to expose him if he doesnโt? (as around here unlike in America, we donโt turn ourselves in unless caught red handed.)
I canโt imagine what Mrs Evans had tried to do
Had she tried to talk her husband out of his nefarious โbusiness concernsโ (I bet he must have been parading himself as an importer and exporter of goods and services, not so?) and all fell on deaf ears?
Then did she call close family and friends to talk him out of this evil business?
Or did Madam Evans threaten to leave because she would endanger her life and those of her five children who will sooner or later hear or read of their fatherโs kidnapping notoriety and would be marked for life.
Could also be that Madam enjoyed the money, the jewellery, the โabroadingโ trips and lavish gifts her husband showered on her and her relatives. As for the relatives, they must have been curious about his source of wealth but may have chosen to look the other way, after all, our legisla-thieves execu-thieves are stealing us blind and thereโs norrin weโve donabuorit.
Come o, what if Madam Evans herself was part of the gang? At this point, we canโt assume she was unaware of her husbandโs means of outlandish income.
But not to judge too harshly, maybe Madam just kukuma at some point began to starve herself on several fasting and praying sessions, asking Baba God to just take control and help her husband see reasonโฆwar room sturves.
I donโt know. What I know is there is now no peace for Madam Evans and her brood. I am hoping Evans was a โbenevolentโ kidnapper, forget the fact that he always insisted on being paid in dollars in the recession period where ordinary lazy naira was hard to come by, yet Evans got paid cold calculating $1m! In cash!
Forget that he kept his victims as long as 6 to 7 months and never released them until the full ransom was paid; at least he fed them via catering service provided by husband and wife โ Uchechukwu and Ogechi Amadi.
So, letโs hope Madam Evans and her husband were the benevolent types, who gave financial aid to several people who must have passed through their homes in the past; they will be needing sympathetic ears in the years to follow.
Many times, women are victims of situations like this; report her man and she may be killed for it by the husband she hoped to protect; walk away from it and sheโll live to forever look over her shoulders; live with it and she becomes an accomplice.
Itโs usually easier to turn a blind eye; pretend the husband isnโt doing wrong and is being pushed to do so. Iโll bet thatโs what the wife of a bribe collecting officer tells herself.
โItโs the system, my husband is not a bad person, but the government wonโt pay him good salaryโฆโ
โMy husband was forced into kidnapping because he lost all his goods to a partner who wanted to murder him and left him for dead.โ
โMy husband is a good man, he only robs the rich and helps the poorโ.
Few would walk away, and this has proven to be the best decision. Walking away frees the woman from the shame and complications that come with situations like this.
I donโt know what story Madam Evans is telling herself as she hides from authorities; I expect sheโs in hiding, with her kids and maybe close associates.
Whatever the outcome of this arrest, there is bound to be a very regretful Madam Evans. I can bet sheโll also be giving out free advice to the youths as her husband has done after singing like a canary to the police and the pressโฆ
โDonโt engage in criminal acts, donโt join bad gangs.โ
Which makes me wonder; didnโt they know these before they were caught?