Woman fakes kidnap of herself and 10-year-old son; Seeks N500k ransom from husband

A housewife, identified as Mrs. Odunayo Olaniyi has been arrested for faking the kidnap of herself and her 10-year-old son, and demanding a ransom of half a million naira from her husband.

Mrs. Odunayo Olaniyi, was charged to court in Ilorin alongside Abdulrauf Folorunso, and Afolabi Adesina on three counts of self-kidnap, false representation and asking for ransom.

Subsequently, a Chief Magistrates’ court sitting in Ilorin on Friday ordered that she be remanded in a correctional centre.

The Chief Magistrate, Ibrahim Dasuki, who gave the order, also remanded Folorunso and Adesina.

The Prosecution Counsel, Inspector Nasir Yusuf, had told the court that on September 19, the complainant, who is also the defendant’s husband, Segun Olaniyi, who works at the Kwara Road Traffic Management Authority, Ilorin, reported the case at the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Police Headquarters, Ilorin.

Yusuf said Segun told Police that he received a message from his wife, Odunayo, that she had been kidnapped.

He alleged that Odunayo also told him that their 10-year-old son had also been kidnapped and that the abductors were demanding for N500,000.

Yusuf said that during discreet investigation, the Police discovered that Odunayo, Folorunso and Adesina, had stage-managed the kidnap.
The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 9, 14, and 12 of the Kwara State Prohibition of Kidnapping Law 2010.

They pleaded not guilty.

Dasuki adjourned the case until October 10 for hearing.