‘Rep’s daughter was not found with lover’
Family members of Jessica Edionwele, who was said to have faked her kidnap, have insisted she was actually kidnapped by unknown persons. Jessica, daughter to Rep Joseph Edionwele representing Esan Federal Constituency of Edo State, was declared missing by the FCT police command last week, and online media were awash with reports that she was later found with her lover in Lugbe.
But Barrister Lucky Eseigbe, who spoke on behalf of the family, said contrary to the media reports, Jessica was actually kidnapped by unknown persons. Eseigbe said the online reports are fake and intended to embarrass his boss, while stating that Miss Edionwele last communicated with members of her family via phone when she was about boarding an Abuja flight from Lagos airport on October 7th and when she could not get to her father’s residence in Area1, the family reported the matter to the police.
“Police intensified efforts and got information that she was being held against her wish in Lugbe and the person who kidnapped her also contacted Rep Edionwele, who in turn informed the FCT police.
“Jessica was rescued from her abductor but never in her lover’s house as online reports speculated. Her fiancée is out of the country as at when this incident happened. No ransom was paid but for the early intervention of the police, she was not harmed,” he said.
City News gathered from a police source that Jessica allegedly arrived Abuja airport from Lagos last Wednesday and decided to stay with her boyfriend in Lugbe. “She planned with her boyfriend to extort money from her father as she perceived her father as very stingy. The FCT police got wind of her hideout when somebody saw her in a supermarket in the neighbourhood based on her pictures that were circulated online, and immediately alerted the police, and both of them were seen and arrested in Lugbe,” the source said.
The Divisional Police Officer Lugbe, Chief Superintendent Ekho Oyamwenda, said he was aware of the case and how the lady was rescued but that he cannot comment on it. When contacted on phone, the FCT spokesperson, Anjuguri Manza, said he has not been briefed on how she was rescued.