Last week Saturday, a 24-year-old female teacher, identified as Medinat Ibrahim who faked her own kidnap was arrested by the Kwara State Police Command in Olude, Oke-Fomo area of Ilorin, Kwara state capital.
Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ajayi Okasanmi made this revelation while parading the suspect before newsmen at the command headquarters in the state.
According to him “On 02/01/2021, at about 1750hrs, intelligence was gathered through one Nurudeen Solagberu of Oko-Olowo area Ilorin through the Command’s emergency telephone line to the effect that, one Ibrahim Medinat of Olude Oke-Fomo area Ilorin was kidnapped by unknown persons.
On the strength of the information, the complainant was directed to make a formal report at Oloje Police Division which has jurisdiction over the area.
“Preliminary investigation revealed a conspiracy theory, hence the Commissioner of Police Cp. Mohammed Lawal Bagega, psc, directed the newly constituted state anti-kidnapping to take over the investigation.
Meanwhile, the defendant confessed that she was pushed to the crime in order to raise money to settle her debt which accrued from the monthly contribution in her place of work.
Medinat, who conspired with other two suspects – Amudalat Wahab (30), who is her relative and Hammed Lekan (28) – to obtain the sum of 250, 000 from her father.
Narrating her pains, she decided to commit the offence as a result of frustration and stoppage of her salary by her employer following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Medinat also revealed that she is from a polygamous home, and was being maltreated by her stepmother who also caused friction between her and her father, adding that she decided to fake her own kidnap to get money to offset debts she incurred during COVID-19 lockdown.
She said her business had collapsed, claiming that the private school, where she taught as a teacher, had stopped paying her salaries since COVID-19 broke out.
She said, “I teach in a private school where I was paid N15,000. We organised monthly contribution which I collected and invested in a business, but when COVID-19 broke out, our salary was stopped, I could no longer continue with the contribution.
“Those who were in the group continued to mount pressure on me to pay up my own contribution and there is nowhere that I could get the money. So I decided to go and hide in my sister’s place and I told someone to call my father on phone that I was kidnapped and demand a ransom of N250,000 which was paid to my friend’s account.
The CP disclosed that a bank account, belonging to one Hammed Lekan, was used to cash the N250,000.
Okasanmi added that in line with the Commissioner of Police stand, it is not going to be business as usual, criminals are warned to pack their loads and relocate from Kwara State as the command would stop at nothing to deal with any criminal arrested no matter how highly or lowly placed he is.