Woman cries out over alleged threats to her life, family by unknown arsonists
On October 10th, 2024, Alfred Olanike Janet, a 49-year-old Nigerian citizen residing in Lagos State, received a call on her husband’s mobile phone from an unknown number with a restricted caller ID. The caller inquired about her husband, and began yelling when she didn’t answer forthwith, threatening by saying, “Woman, you better tell us how we can find your husband, or we will go to his car lot, destroy the place, and come to your house to kidnap you and your children.”
Shocked and terrified, she immediately called my husband to inform him of the situation. “He instructed me to leave the house with our daughters and go stay with my elder sister, who lives in another part of Lagos State,” Olanike said.
On October 12th, 2024, around 8:30 p.m., she received another call from the same unidentified caller, this time on my personal phone number. The caller asked if she had managed to raise the sum of N100 million that they had demanded during the previous conversation. She firmly told the caller to stop contacting her and warned that she would report the matter to the police.
“The caller then threatened to kidnap and kill my children and me. He also threatened to burn down my husband’s car lot as proof that they were serious. I immediately hung up the phone and called my husband to inform him of the new threats. He advised me to go to the nearest police station that night to report the incident and planned to make another report to the police station near his car lot the following morning.
“To our shock and disbelief, at exactly 7:30 a.m. on October 13th, 2024, while I was preparing to go to the police station, I received a call from my husband’s secretary, who informed me that the car lot had nearly burned to the ground. They had been trying to contact the fire department for assistance in stopping the fire.
“I rushed to the car lot to see the damage for myself. Upon arrival, I was devastated to find that the fire had reduced everything to ashes. All the cars were completely burned, and the entire place was unrecognisable,” Olanike said
