Suspected kidnappers who abducted a five-year-old girl, Memunah Abdulrahman, in the Ejigbo area of Lagos State have contacted her family, demanding a ransom of N500,000.

The girl’s father, Abdurrahman Alimi, disclosed this in an interview with PUNCH Metro.

The missing girl, Memunah Abdulrahman, was abducted on March 9, 2025, while returning home from an Islamic school.

The suspect was reported to have approached Memunah and her sister near a well-known supermarket in the Ejigbo community and lured them inside.

While pretending to purchase items for them, the suspect reportedly vanished with Memunah, leaving her sister behind.

Speaking on the ransom demand on Wednesday, Alimi told our correspondent that the suspects contacted him via a private number last month (April) to demand the payment.

“It was almost a month after my daughter was abducted that they called us. They hid their phone numbers and asked us to pay N500,000 before they would release my daughter. They hung up the phone and have not called back since then. I believe my daughter is still alive.

We told the police about this development. They said we should ask them to contact us via WhatsApp.

“We don’t know what the police are doing about it. On Friday, it will be exactly two months since my daughter was abducted.”

The distressed father had appealed to the public for help securing his daughter’s release.

“We need help. We are pleading with anyone who may recognise the suspect to come forward,” he said. “Our daughter is only five years old, and we desperately need any assistance to bring her home.”

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed that the Commissioner of Police, Owohunwa Jimoh, had ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department to take over the case.

Although the family acknowledged that SCID operatives visited the community shortly after the directive was issued, Alimi told our correspondent that they had since been left in the dark regarding the progress of the investigation.