On Wednesday, Emmanuel Charles Angase, a member of his gang, and John Lyon Eke, a suspected Bayelsa kidnapping mastermind, were remanded 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 arraigned for the high-profile kidnapping of bankers, merchants, and notable Bayelsans.
The suspects entered a not guilty plea to the 14 counts that were brought against them, including kidnapping, armed robbery, and criminal felony.
As previously reported by PulseNets, John Ewa, who was detained in Abuja and connected to a number of high-profile recent kidnapping incidents in the state, denied being the gang’s leader and said he was merely helping to identify the victims’ homes.
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.
She said: “They have taken their plea and the matter has been adjourned for hearing on the 5th of December. They pleaded not guilty to the 14-count charge against them. I have served them the brief today in court.
“The reason why we have to delay to this time is because of the flood, and that was why we filed in immediately after the flood receded.”
Francis Gbaionna, the defendants’ attorney, said that he had not received the prosecution’s lawyer’s statement of charges but otherwise expressed no opposition to the application.
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 to December 5 and 21, 2022.
