I was duped of N1m made from my wife’s fake kidnap – Man laments

Mohammed Mohammed who arranged the fake kidnap of his wife, Sadiya Ibrahim Umar Mohammed, a school teacher in Minna, Niger State, has lamented his pain at losing the N1 million realized from the deal.

Mohammed, an electrician and father of one, told newsmen that the money did not get to him as he was duped by one Abdullahi currently at large.

Narrating his pains shortly after being paraded at the state police command, Mohammed along with his wife, said aside the N1m paid by his father-in-law as ransom, he was duped of another N300,000 by the same man.

”I went to Abuja to work and at the end of my three weeks stay, I went to the garage to board a vehicle to Minna and there, I met Abdullahi begging the driver that his transport fare was short of N500 he should help him, but the driver refused. He approached me to help and I decided to assist him to complete his fare. We later exchanged phone numbers when we got to Minna. Three days later he called to thank me.

“After a while, he called me again and said that he wants to introduce me to a business that I will be getting money from, Bua Company based in Kano. That he will get loads of between N25m to N50m for me provided I can raise N1.5m deposit with the company. I told him that I don’t have that kind of money as things are really hard for me but I managed to raise N300,000 which I gave to him. I even told my brother-in-law of the idea which he said was good. Later Abdullahi encouraged me to fake the kidnap of my wife whose father is working in Qatar to raise the money,” Mohammed revealed.

He said initially, he rejected the idea but later succumbed as the fastest means of getting balance of the N1.5m.

According to him, he went home and shared the idea with his wife, who initially also refused but after much persuasion gave in.

“So, last Thursday, I told her to meet me at Mobil and from there we boarded a vehicle to Paiko, Paikoro Local Government Area at the Minna City Gate. On reaching there, I told her I am taking her to stay with my friend for some few days in Nugupi village via Paiko to make it look like a kidnap in order to negotiate with her father for the N5m they agreed upon. I left her there after lying to my friend that she is my girlfriend and he should help look after her for me till after Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

“I then returned and joined her family in Minna pretending to be searching for her too. She resurfaced on Wednesday after the ransom was paid.”

He explained that before leaving the village he collected his wife’s phone and gave it to Abdullahi which he used to contact her family the next day after the supposed kidnap demanding for a ransom of N5m, but after negotiation, N1m was paid.

The suspect, however, said when the money was paid, Abdullahi went to Rafin-yashi in Bosso Local Government Area where he asked the family to drop the money and collected it, adding that: “afterward, he came and gave me back my wife’s phone and when I asked for the money, he said he cannot give it to me in the open that he bring it later. Since then I have not seen him.”

He further explained that the bubble burst when they were invited for interrogation by the police and they both confessed to the crime.

Asked why they decided to embark upon such a course of action, the suspect hinged it on the economic hardship facing him and his family, and the refusal of his father-in-law to help them.

“We decided to fake the kidnap of my wife after I pressured her because she didn’t want to do it initially. I told her I will take her somewhere to make it look like a kidnap. My father-in-law has never helped us, the only help we got from him was when he took us to Qatar in 2012 and after two years, we were deported back home. Since then, I have been begging him to help us, but he kept on promising that he will assist and up until now, he hasn’t.”

“I am giving this explanation because the issue is now public and I want people to know what really happened. I am not a criminal, nobody can come out and say Mohammed stole from them. I never stole from anyone in my life, I was just duped due to the hardship we are going through and it is really painful for me,” he said.

But multiple sources told our reporter that Mohammed, along with his wife, was taken to Qatar and after two years’ stay were deported back to Nigeria for allegedly wasting the opportunities given them.

Also when asked to comment on the matter Mrs. Sadiya, 31, who taught in a school said to be owned by her father, Umar Bn khattab International School in Maitumbi, a suburb of Minna simply replied, ” I have nothing to say because all what my husband said is true. I faked my kidnap that’s all I can say.”

The suspects both of Limawa area of Minna were paraded yesterday while, according to the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, a search is ongoing for Abdullahi who is still at large.

He said the couple both confessed to the crime and would be charged to court at the end of investigations.