On Wednesday, Emmanuel Charles Angase, a member of his gang, and John Lyon Eke, a suspected Bayelsa kidnapping mastermind, were detained at the Okaka Correctional Facility.
In Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, a High Court was in session when John Lyon and his co-defendant, Emmanuel, were charged for the high-profile kidnapping of bankers, merchants, and notable Bayelsans.
The accused entered a not guilty plea to the 14 counts that were brought against them, including kidnapping, armed robbery, and criminal felony.
According to an earlier report by Obasanjonews24, John Ewa, who was detained in Abuja and has been connected to a number of high-profile recent kidnapping incidents in the state, denied being the gang’s leader and said he was merely participating to reveal where their victims lived.
Ewa, also known as John Lyon, was one of four members of his gang paraded by the Nigerian Police Force’s Bayelsa State Command in September.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for Bayelsa State, Mrs. Apulu Iyabosa, stated that the case papers were delivered to the defendant’s attorney in light of the plea and pleaded for a trial date.
They entered a plea, and the issue was postponed until a hearing on December 5th, she added.
To the 14-count accusation against them, they entered a not guilty plea.
Today in court, I delivered the brief to them.
We filed in as soon as the river subsided because of the flood, which is why we had to postpone until now.
Francis Gbaionna, the defendants’ attorney, said that he had not received the prosecution’s lawyer’s statement of charges but otherwise had no opposition to the motion.
In her decision, Justice Inikade Eradiri, the presiding court, directed that the defendants be remanded at the Okaka Correctional Center and postponed the case’s hearing until December 5 and 21, 2022.
