The police in Lagos have taken Toyosi Adesegun, a 20-year-old lady, into custody after she raised a false rape and kidnap alarm on social media to apparently chase clout.
Police spokesman in Lagos, Benjamin Hundeyin, said in a tweet that the lady “voluntarily presented herself’ to the police after she made an inflammable post clarifying that she was not really in danger but had just tweeted as a “joke.”
Mr Hindeyin said Ms Adesegun is in their custody and is being questioned by the police.
The police spokesperson said she raised a false alarm after she was “restrained from leaving the apartment by the young men [that she was with].”
He said the lady alongside the young men will be arraigned in court.
“After a careful and extensive investigation, it is revealed that 20-year-old Toyosi Adesegun, female, is a regular visitor to Olamilekan Faruk, Ayanfe Ayinde and Olusola Onipede, all male of 78 Obayan Street Akoka,” Mr Hundeyin said.
“This morning, she was restrained from leaving the apartment by the young men. Toyosi threatened to tweet what she tweeted if she was not allowed to leave.
“The young men called her bluff and she tweeted.
“Based on the foregoing, the three men will be arraigned for wrongful restraint while Toyosi will be arraigned for giving false information.”
In a social media post on Thursday morning, Ms Adesegun alleged that some men had kidnapped and raped her in an apartment in Akoka, Lagos.
She posted the address and contact of her alleged abductors on her social media handle.
“I’m being kidnapped guys, I’m being raped,” @_misteriouss tweeted.
Following the tweet, there was an uproar on social media; the police traced the addressed she posted and arrested some young men living in the apartment.
“We have been at the location for over thirty minutes now. Well-meaning Nigerians have commendably shown concern. We will get to the roots of this,” Mr Hindeyin had said on Twitter.
After her viral post, Ms Adesegun retracted her accusation of rape against the young men.
She claimed it was a false accusation, “I tweeted earlier that I was kidnapped and raped. It’s false. I’m sorry for this. Please stop calling and threatening the numbers.”
She posted a video to assure the public that she was not under duress and had safely returned to her house. “I’m not making this video under duress. I’m very okay, I’m in my house.”
