The staged kidnapping of two undergraduate friends to demand money from their parents has resulted in their detention by the Lagos State Police Command.
The accused are 21-year-old Okuomo Dennis, a student at the National Institute of Information Technology in Lagos, and 21-year-old Balogun Ayodele, a 200-level student at Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin.
According to the Police, the suspects came out of their hiding place after realizing their parents are not paying ransom. According to information obtained, Dennis suggested feigning Ayodele’s kidnap as a means of pressuring his father, a driver for an undisclosed corporation.
Ayodele allegedly vanished from his house on February 2, 2024, and then used his phone to text his father, requesting a $20,000 ransom to free him. The directive stated that the money was to be sent to a Bitcoin wallet address.
It was alleged that his distraught father had asked for help from his company’s management, but they had urged that the police should be contacted.
Benjamin Hudenyin, a spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, claims that Ayodele was being held in one of Dennis’ father’s hotel rooms during this time.
Dennis’ father is a hotelier, and he has a room set aside for his son Dennis permanently, the speaker stated. That was Ayodele’s hiding place. He got away with it since no one ever checks in there. They agreed to take Ayodele to a nearby bush, strip him naked, and take pictures of him laying on the ground when the ransom was not paid. They threatened to harm him if the money wasn’t paid, and they forwarded the images to his father.
“Later, they increased the anxiety by sending Ayodele’s father texts that included the names of additional family members. Ayodele’s father contacted Dennis but he denied knowing anything about the whereabouts of his friend.
On March 11, 2024, Dennis made the decision to stage his own abduction in the hopes that his father would pay him because he felt the other strategy was failing. They staged it to look like the same kidnappers that took Ayodele had also took Dennis.
“The two households were in dire need. The students used the same strategy again, snapping photos of Dennis in his underwear and first demanding $80,000. But they raised it to $100,000 when they did not hear back. Dennis was no longer able to remain at his father’s hotel at that point. For five days, both of them lived in a nearby bush.
But two days after visiting the bush, they made another attempt at a ruse. They went to the corporation Ayodele’s father works for, took images of the building, and threatened to come get him. Terrified, Ayodele’s father alerted the company’s management, who then sent out a notice to all employees.
All of the above information was given to the Lagos State Police Command in the interim, which led to a thorough investigation.
On March 16, 2024, they made the decision to come out of hiding since they were unable to obtain any money. They returned to the hotel owned by Dennis’ father and declared themselves to have fled the kidnappers’ hideout. They made a hurried call to Ayodele’s father, who promptly arrived.
“Ayodele’s father thought he was abducted, so he was sent to the hospital for treatment. When they handed themselves in, they were taken into custody. They admitted to the crime during the course of the investigation.
