By Deborah Nnamdi
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old housewife, Misturah Bada, and her alleged accomplice, Adedamola Daniel, 30, for allegedly staging her own kidnapping and extorting N2.5 million from her husband, who resides in South Africa.
The police spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, said the arrests followed investigations that revealed the reported abduction was deliberately orchestrated.
According to Adebisi, the command received a distress call at about 10:00 p.m. on November 24, 2025, from the woman’s husband, who claimed his wife had been kidnapped by armed men demanding a ransom of N10 million, later reduced to N3 million. The husband reportedly paid N2.5 million to secure her release.
When the supposed kidnappers failed to release the victim after payment, the police launched a detailed investigation. Mrs. Bada was later “released” and reunited with her family. During interrogation, she claimed she had been abducted by six armed men in a silver Toyota Venza and taken to an unknown location, where her iPhone 12 Pro Max was allegedly seized.
Police said inconsistencies in her account raised suspicion, prompting further investigation. This led to the arrest of her alleged accomplice, Adedamola Daniel, on December 3, 2025, in Ede, Osun State. A SIM card used to register the WhatsApp account through which ransom negotiations were conducted was recovered from him.
Investigators said Daniel confessed that Mrs. Bada requested his SIM card to open the WhatsApp account used to communicate with her husband and that he provided the one-time password sent to his line.
Confronted with the evidence, Mrs. Bada allegedly confessed to staging her own kidnapping to extort money from her husband. Police also recovered the phone she had earlier claimed was with her abductors. The device was traced to one Yusuf Sodiq, 34, who told investigators that he bought it from Mrs. Bada for N380,000 and was warned not to insert a SIM card into it.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Olohundare Jimoh, warned residents against making false reports or engaging in criminal deception, stressing that such acts waste security resources and undermine public safety.
