Katsina housewife fakes the kidnapping of her daughter in order to get husband's ex-wife into trouble

KATSINA housewife Fatima Bishir has been arrested by police for allegedly arranging the kidnapping of her five-year-old daughter in order to implicate her husband’s ex-wife and get her charged with abduction.

Over recent years, kidnapping has become rife across Nigeria with innocent people frequently being abducted and held until their relatives cough up huge sums to secure their freedom. In response, several state governments have passed by-laws making kidnapping punishable with the death penalty and the police have stepped up their response to the crime.

Hoping to get her husband's ex-wife in serious trouble, Fatima 22, from Mashi Local Government Area of Katsina State, faked the kidnapping of their daughter and then sent an text message to her husband demanding N2m in ransom. She then took underpants and shoes of the daughter to the house of the ex-wife to implicate her but the police recovered them.

Police spokesman, Gambo Isah, said: “On July 5, 2020 at 0800 hours, the suspect falsely reported at Mashi Police Division that her little daughter was missing and strongly suspected the ex-wife of her husband. However, after a thorough investigation, the suspect confessed to being the writer of the text message sent to her husband, Bishir Isyaku, 40, in which he was threatened him to either pay a N2m ransom or risk his daughter been killed by the kidnappers.”

Mr Isah added that the suspect further claimed that the said ex-wife once threatened her that she will revenge the death of her daughter who died under her care. He further revealed that the suspect confessed to have taken away the daughter from their residence in Mashi to Kano, where she hid her with help of her housemaid, Faiza.

According to the police, Fatima's  luck ran out when she took the girl from Kano to Dutse trying to abandon her near the house of the ex-wife’s mother. He said investigations are still ongoing and the suspects would be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.