Mary Daniels recently became a sensation after pictures of her selling water at Oshodi went viral on social media.
As she became an instant celebrity, Mary in an interview, claimed she was an orphan with a baby and an aged grandmother to fend for. She also narrated how she dropped out of school and hit the streets to make ends meet.
Her touching story prompted many Nigerians to donate money to the tune of N25 million to her bank account, which was made public.
The state government also sheltered her to prevent criminals from taking advantage of her sudden fortune.
In a bid to make her happy, a birthday party featuring many cakes, fanfare and photoshoots was organised by the state government in her honour.
But contrary to the claim that she is an orphan, the state government found out that the father of the amputee hawker is alive.
It was also revealed that she was amputated from birth, contrary to her claims that she lost a leg in an accident that killed all passengers, including her parents, when she was a teenager.
According to TheNation, Mary Daniels was exposed after those who staged her story started threatening that they would reveal the truth unless she gave them their share of the money.
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has directed the relevant ministry to hand over the matter to the state Police Command for further investigation.
When contacted for comments, the state Commissioner for information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, could not respond to calls and text messages sent to his mobile phone at press time. However, a government source who preferred anonymity, confirmed the development to Vanguard, saying that Governor Sanwo-Olu gave the directive on Wednesday after it was discovered that Daniels’ story was staged and untrue after all.
Confirming the development, Lagos Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu said, “there were irregularities and lies in the account of her life she gave.”
The police boss said, “It was discovered that contrary to her claim that her parents died during an accident that left her amputated, it was discovered that her father is very much alive and that she was amputated from birth.
“It was also discovered that her presence in Oshodi was staged. Those working with her played on the intelligence of Nigerians to get donations for her.
“It came to light when the people started threatening her. She promised some N500,000 others different amounts and was planning to return to her home state when the information leaked.
“I had to attach some policemen to her to prevent any attack on her when she went to the bank. We suspected those people might follow her but everything went well as they were not seen.
“Presently, the state government is preventing her from accessing the money.”
“The government does not want a situation where it will become a trend for people to cook up stories, manipulate the people to get donations”.
