A 19-year-old girl identified as Margaret Adiya Ikumu, who lives in Lagos has shared the story of how she faked her own death on social media just to escape financial pressure from her mother.
Mr. Bala Elkana, the Spokesperson of the Lagos state police command said the news of her death was shared on social media which made her family call on the police for investigation.
A statement was written and signed by Tony Iji on behalf of Margaret’s family which was sent to the police command on the 15th of May to address the post of their daughter’s death on Facebook which says Margaret died a few days ago and was secretly buried by two her friends identified as Marvelous Mary and Nneka Buddy at Ajah area of Lagos state.
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According to the family, they met with Marvelous Mary and Nneka Buddy to ask them about their daughter and they both told the family that Margaret is dead and buried.
In the course of the investigation, the police discovered that Magaret was actually alive, and simply fake her death on Facebook because of her mother’s financial demands.
”They told the police that the friends informed them that they were instructed by Margaret not to allow members of her family to know anything about her death and that they were authorized by Margaret to secretly bury her. To make them believe that the girl is dead, they sent WhatsApp chats to a member of the girl’s family with picture of a casket showing that the girl is buried. The known phone number of the girl was permanently switched off. The family also got in touch with a man on phone who claimed to be her boyfriend. He corroborated the claim that she is dead.” the statement read
Margaret who was working as a housemaid in an estate at Ajah, and was reported to the police by her employer. According to the police, she is angry with her mother and the rest of the family for not trying to sponsor her education.
When her employer saw the report of her purported death, they quickly informed the Police and she was brought to Ajah Police Station. In her statement, she confessed to having created the Facebook account and posted her obituary with intent to keep her family away from her. She said her mother was putting financial pressure on her, constantly demanding that she send money to her. The girl is apparently bitter with her mother and uncles, over their inability to sponsor her education after the death of her father. Her sojourn to Lagos is to work, save some money and return to school.
She admitted using her employer’s daughter’s photograph Dr Nimechi Ugorji (without her knowledge) in the fictitious Facebook account she created, as profile picture. After posting the obituary notice on the account, her Uncle downloaded the profile picture and reposted, calling on members of the public who know the person on the photograph to report to the nearest Police Station” the statement read
