The police yesterday paraded a 45-year-old woman, Hadijat Kabir for allegedly faking kidnap of herself and her sick daughter, Hamidat, 18, in order to fleece her husband of N15 million.
Mrs Kabir was arrested alongside Ahmed Kudos, 29, who allegedly negotiated ransom with the woman’s husband, Alhaji Kabir Muraino as well as the wife of a native doctor, Adijat Rufai, 39, said to be a member of the gang.
According to Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal, the native doctor, Wasiu Rufai, Luqmon Ahmed and one Jossy were being trailed by the police in connection to the matter.
He said Alhaji Muriano had reported to the police on August 2, at about 3:30pm that he received a call from his wife, who was on her way to a psychiatric hospital with their daughter, that they have been kidnapped.
Edgal said: “The man reported at Ikotun Police Station that the kidnappers were demanding N15 million ransom.
“Based on this, the Anti-Kidnapping Squad were directed to ensure speedy rescue of the hostages and arrest of the suspects. Investigation revealed that the kidnappers were making their demands from Ado-Odo community in Ogun State.
“The operatives busted the kidnappers’ den. The hostages were rescued and the suspects were arrested.
“When the wife was debriefed, she confessed that she planned her kidnap with the suspects arrested to defraud her husband. She named those on the run as members of the syndicate.”
Mrs Kabir told reporters she plotted the kidnap because her husband was not caring for her needs.
She said: “I bore four children for him. He has two wives and I am the first. I have been with him for 27 years. I did not use my daughter for ritual. I just wanted money from my husband.
“He would always shout at me if I requested for money. He would not even tell me gently, he would always flare up. I was a fashion designer before I married him. My daughter has been convulsive since she was a kid.
“My family members would call me to ask for money even my mum but I do not have any money to give them. I would ask my husband for money, he would not give me. I asked him for just N500,000 and he refused. We were not kidnapped. We just hid at a place and contacted him.”
But her husband denied allegations of negligence, claiming that he opened a shop for her and also gave her N300,000 and their son added N150,000 to it recently.
He said he had complained to her parents that she was wayward and unfaithful and had told them he would send her back home not knowing that she was nursing such a plan.
Kudus, a betting company employee, said he knew the woman through his brother, Ahmed Lukman, a panel beater, who’s her lover.
He said: “They do lodge in a hotel called Church Hotel. They usually spent close to three hours there. So, they called me over. I asked them why they did not come straight to the house instead of lodging in a hotel, she told me her daughter is sick and she wanted to take her for treatment. I told her she should have taken her to the hospital instead of coming to Ogun State. She said it is not the work of a hospital that a herbalist was capable of treating her daughter. The two men I met there left immediately.
“I spoke to the woman’s husband on phone while the woman pretended to be crying and was talking about a million naira during the conversation.
“The woman was like it was too small that he should make it N4 million. I was surprised, so they explained to me. I spoke to the man and asked if he had made any promise to them he said yes that he told them one million naira. I asked him to give them and I left. I did not collect any money from them.”
Mrs. Rufai said she was arrested because her husband fled, adding that she had nothing to do with the crime.
