‘I faked my kidnap to get university admission money from my rich uncle’

Nineteen-year-old Miss Adelewa has told detectives attached to the Lagos State Police Command that she planned her own kidnap in order to squeeze money out of her stingy uncle.

Adelewa said that she carried out the plan and later demanded N600, 000 ransom from her dad via phone, knowing that her distraught parents would run to her uncle.
According to detectives, Adelewa told her mother that she was travelling to Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State, to see her friend, Ifeoluwa Ogunbanjo.
She would later use Ogunbanjo’s phone to call her father, demanding for ransom, that she had been abducted.
Adelewa’s supposed tight proof plan crumpled like a pack of cards after police tracked Ogunbanjo's phone and later zeroed in on her.
According to Adelewa, the decision to plot her own kidnap was fuelled by the desire to raise money to further her education and also to assist her mother get money to repay a loan.
The girl disclosed that her mother collected the loan from a Cooperative Society. She explained that the owners of the money had been disturbing her mother to repay, to an extent that it had become an embarrassment.
She said: “I went to Ifeoluwa's place. I borrowed money from my mum to transport myself there. It was because of the situation of things in my family that led me into plotting my own kidnap. My father has liver problem and my mum collected a loan from cooperative which she has been finding difficult to repay.  
She further recounted: “My aunt, who had always come to the rescue of my family died recently. She was the person who saw me through secondary school. I had written Jamb to enable me further my education, but I needed money to pursue my admission. I work with BetNaija, but they owed me three month salary.
“I approached my uncle to seek for financial help, but he turned me down. This was why I devised the strategy to pretend I had been kidnapped to raise money to help my mother repay her loan and finance my admission. I called my friend and told her that I was coming to her place at Ijebu-Igbo. My plan was to stay at her place, then call my father that I had been kidnapped. I knew that if my uncle, who is rich, heard that I was kidnapped, he would definitely raise the money for the ransom. Unfortunately, I was arrested before the ransom was paid into the account my friend provided.”
Ogunbanjo explained that she and Adelewa first met at a church in Ketu area of Lagos State.
Ogunbanjo said: "I was surprised when I received Dorcas’ phone call that I should come to a particular bus stop in Ijebu- Igbo to come pick her. She said that she escaped from some kidnappers in Epe. After my mum listened to her plight, she gave her food to eat and took her to the room where she could sleep. Before she went to bed that night, she asked me if I had credit on my phone. I didn’t know she was using my phone to demand ransom from her father.
"The following day, my mother gave her N500 to add to the N1000 with her and go back to Lagos. When she asked me for my bank account details, I told her didn’t have one. I went to an aunt in our community to get the bank account details for her. I didn’t know she wanted to use the bank account details to collect ransom from her parents. It was when I was arrested that everything became clear to me. I’m innocent. I didn’t know anything about the abduction plan and ransom demand."

Imohimi explained that Adelewa’s father reported at Ketu Police Station that on July 12, 2018, at about 3pm, his daughter called to inform that she had been abducted.

Imohimi further said: “Her father was at Odogbolu in Ogun State, attending a burial when he received a call from a phone number, 09057432362, telling him that his daughter was being held hostage. The caller said that if he didn’t want Dorcas to be killed, he should pay N600, 000 ransom to secure her release. 

“The case was immediately transferred to the Anti-Kidnapping Section of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba. Investigation commenced and the above phone number that was used by the suspects was geo-located to Ijebu-Igbo area of Ogun State. The Officer in charge of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit led his operatives to Ijebu-Igbo and combed the area in search of the supposed victim. While the search was ongoing at Ijebu-Igbo, the location of the supposed kidnappers changed to Ikotun in Lagos. The search party had to move from Ijebu-Igbo to Ikotun to rescue the victim."

Imohimi explained that when the fake kidnappers realized that the police were closing in on them, Dorcas decided to call her father to inform him that she has been released. This was after he had deposited the sum of N80, 000 into her UBA's account number: 2087804991.

"When Dorcas was being debriefed upon her ‘release,’ she confessed that she actually planned with her friend, Ifeoluwa Ogunbanjo, who provided her with accommodation at No. 174, Adeboye road, Okesopin, Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State to hide. The phone Dorcas used in demanding for the ransom of N600, 000 was given to her. Dorcas’ plan was to extort money from her uncle."