Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command have rescued a former beauty pageant contestant on the platform of Miss Nigeria from a man whom posed as business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on Facebook in order to kidnap her.
The victim, Miss Sa-adat Usman Bibire, was said to have been kidnapped by Patrick Ifada, 23, whom she met via Facebook.
Ifada was arrested in Warri, Delta State, where he lured Bibire, before kidnapping her and demanded N20 million ransom.
The suspect was able to hoodwink and convince the victim to leave Lagos to Delta State, telling her that ‘his’ company wanted to make her ‘Brand Ambassador of Dangote Noodles.’
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, said that the suspect, who posed as the business mogul on Facebook, was a friend of the victim on the social media platform.
Aderanti said: “After a while, the suspect told the victim that being a friend to the Chief Executive Officer, she should count herself lucky that she had been offered a job opportunity as the Brand Ambassador of Dangote Noodles.’
“The victim was told to come down to Warri, where the Dangote Noodles factory was sited.
“She proceeded to Delta State and was kidnapped.
“The suspect demanded for N20 million ransom from her father.
“The father was directed to transfer the money to a bank in Malaysia, after which his daughter would be released.”
According to Aderanti, the Officer in Charge of the SARS, Abba Kyari, with his men, tracked the victim and the kidnappers through phone conversations.
The victim was rescued unhurt from the kidnappers den in Uzoro area of Delta State.
One of the kidnappers, assigned to watch Bibire, was arrested, while the other is still at large.
Ifada is the unlucky kidnapper who was arrested.
He said he was not the person who posed as Dangote on Facebook to fool Bibire.
He said: “It was my friend, Marcus Omajuwa.
“It was due to the money involved in the deal that made me to join the gang.
“My friend met her on Facebook and convinced the lady to come down to Delta State.
“When she got Delta to State, she discovered that everything was a lie.
“She called her father that she had been kidnapped and we demanded for N20 million ransom.”
Ifada said that although the victim’s father promised to send the money, they decided to bring the amount down after they did not receive any bank alert to signify that their account had been credited.
He added: “We decided to renegotiate with her father again for N15 million and later N500,000.
“My own role in the deal was to take proper care of her and prepare her food.”