Court strikes out kidnapper Evans’ suit against police over property seizure
Alleged kidnapper Chukwudumeme Onwamadike a.k.a Evans has seen his suit against the police over seizure of his property struck out by the court.
Evans wanted the court to declare the property seizure by the police as illegal and unconstitutional, NAN reports.
Following Evans’ much publicised arrest in 2017, police had seized his two houses in Magodo area of Lagos, as well as three luxurious vehicles, wrist watches and other property.
Evans listed the seized property as: N500 million, another N500 million, two residential houses located at Magodo, Lagos State, a Brigade wristwatch worth 20,000 dollars, necklaces worth 25,000 dollars and five pieces of diamond rings.
He also listed one Lexus 470, a Grand Cherokee, a Toyota Highlander, 85 Samsung television sets, 45KVA generator, 22KVA generator, 20KVA inverter worth N10 million and five sets of freezers.
The suspect who is facing charges for allegedly kidnapping many people for huge ransoms sought for an order by the court to declare the forceful seizure illegal and that the property be immediately returned.
He also requested in the suit that the police should be ordered to apologise to him and pay him N1 billion as damages for their action which he claimed violated his rights.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the Federal High Court in Lagos, however, ruled on Monday that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case.
Olatoregun said the cause should be filed at the Lagos State High Court where Evans was facing charges of kidnapping.
She held that Evans failed to show that, within the circumstances of his arrest, the property were forcefully seized.
“The only conclusion I can draw is that the property were taken consequent upon his trial for kidnapping before the Lagos State High Court.
“This court must be careful not to interfere with due process of the ongoing trial of the applicant before the Lagos State High Court.
“This court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain this case; same is hereby struck out,” Olatoregun held.
