Teenager fakes death to avoid financial pressure from mother

A 19-year-old girl, Margaret Ikumu, from Oni community in Oju local government area of Benue State faked her own death on social media to avoid financial pressure from her mother.

The spokesman of the Lagos State police command, Bala Elkana, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

Elkana said Ikumu, through her facebook account, was reported to have died a few days ago and was secretly buried by her two friends, Marvelous Mary and Nneka Buddy, at Ajah area of Lagos.

He said: “The family of the fake deceased further stated that they were able to establish contact with the said friends who confirmed to them that their daughter is dead.

“To make them believe that the girl is dead, they sent WhatsApp chats to a member of the girl’s family with the picture of a casket showing that the girl was buried.

“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 command spokesman said the girl was eventually found by the police to be alive and was working as a housemaid in an estate in Ajah.

Elkana added: “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 (Ikumu) confessed to having created the facebook account and posted her obituary with intent to keep her family away from her.

“She said that her mother was putting financial pressure on her by constantly demanding that she sends money to her.”

According to him, the girl was apparently bitter with her mother and uncles over their inability to sponsor her education after the death of her father.

He said the teenager came to Lagos to work with a view to saving some money and returning to school.

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