Family's ransom fundraiser collapses after missing woman is found in hotel with lover

• Investigators traced a phone number linked to the case to the hotel, leading to her discovery and the arrest of four suspects.

• Her daughter, who had publicly appealed for help and raised funds for the ransom, said the revelation had left the family shocked and devastated.

A married woman in Edo State staged her own kidnapping and demanded ₦50 million from her family, only to be found by police in a hotel in Delta State with a man she had been having an affair with.

The woman, identified as Oluchi, was reported missing by her family, who told police she had been abducted at the Ikpoba Hill area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State. 

Her children, including a daughter based in Canada named Anita, went public with appeals for help raising the ransom, which the supposed kidnappers had eventually reduced to ₦20 million.

Police launched an investigation and traced a phone number connected to the case to a hotel in Ubiaroko, Delta State. When operatives arrived, they found Oluchi inside the hotel with her lover. 

Her husband was contacted and came to the station, where police broke the news to him. According to a source familiar with the matter, Oluchi begged her husband on the spot not to tell their children what had actually happened.

Four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, Edo State Police spokesman Eno Ikoedem confirmed.

The fallout landed hardest on Anita, who had been publicly fundraising and pleading for her mother's release, unaware that the entire situation was staged.

In a video posted online after the truth emerged, she struggled to find words. "My mum has been released. My mum is involved in this kidnapping case. I only did what I did to save my mum," she said. "The family is in shock. This is not right. This has shattered my family."

She made clear that no ransom was paid and that the money raised would be returned. She also stressed that police had been involved from the beginning and that she bore no responsibility for what her mother had done.

"My reputation has been ruined. I am short of words. What did I do wrong? I only did what any daughter would do," she said.

A social club Anita belongs to, the Harmony Ladies Club, also issued a statement distancing itself from the incident after its members had rallied in support of what they believed was a genuine crisis. 

The club said it had provided emotional, logistical and financial support during what it described as a profound betrayal of sisterhood and community trust.

"It is with a profound sense of betrayal that we have now discovered that the entire kidnapping incident was staged," the club's statement read.

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