Lagos suspects lie in viral amputee hawker’s story

Lagos suspects lie in viral amputee hawker’s story and withhold the 25million naira contribution that was meant to be given to her while the investigation is ongoing.

On Wednesday the 28th of April, 2021, It was reported that Mary Daniel, the Oshodi amputee hawker that lost a leg in an accident that killed all passengers, including her parents when she was a teenager, has been revealed as false.

Mary became a sensation weeks ago after pictures of her selling water at Oshodi came up on social media and attracted sympathy from Nigerians across the world.

In an interview, Mary claimed that she was an orphan with a baby and an aged grandmother to cater for.

She narrated how life had been very unfair to her such that  she had to drop out of school and hit the streets to make ends meet.

Following her sad tales, Nigerians began donating money through her bank account made public with about N25m raised.

The state government immediately took action and gave her shelter to prevent criminals from taking advantage of her sudden fortune.

Some days ago, a celebrity birthday party was held in her honor featuring many cakes, fanfare, photoshoots, and many others.

Everything was working out well for the young lady until the state government discovered on Thursday, the 22nd of April, 2021 that her father was alive.

It was also revealed that she was amputated from birth.

Due to this recent update, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu immediately handed her over to officials of the social welfare for investigation following the news that her case was staged.

Mary Daniel has been receiving strange calls from those who staged her story with threats to expose the truth unless she gave them their share of the money.

The Lagos State Governor handed her over to officials of welfare in the presence of the police and some Kogi leaders, who also affirmed that her father was alive.

The commissioner of Police Hakeem Odumosu explained that the young lady was in the custody of officials of the Social Welfare and not the police as earlier reported.

“The police was present but she was not handed over to us. She was handed over to Social Welfare. There were some anomalies and lies in the information she gave regarding her life story.

“It was discovered that contrary to her claim that her parents died during an accident that left her amputated, her father is still very much alive and she was in fact amputated from birth.

Furthermore, it was also revealed that her presence in Oshodi was staged. Those working with her played on the intelligence of Nigerians to get donations for her.

All this came to light when the people started threatening her. She promised some N500,000 and others different amounts and was planning to go back to her home state when the information leaked.

The commissioner said he had to attach some policemen to her to prevent any attack on her when she went to the bank. He suspected the people who threatened her might follow her but everything went well as they were not seen.

“Presently, the state government  has prevented her from getting access to the money.”

“The government wants to prevent a situation where it will become a normal thing for people to cook up stories, and manipulate people to get donations,” Odumosu explained.

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