A Queen’s sad tale: How I was kidnapped and robbed

By Our Reporter on September 28, 2014 · COVER, Entertainment




[size=18pt]–Hanniel Jamin, Miss Universe Ghana 2013
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Hanniel Jamin is the current Miss Universe Ghana. The damsel enjoys dual citizen­ship. She is born to a Nigerian mother and a Ghanaian father. Despite being a queen, Jamin is unhappy. Reason, her one year reign has been turbulent. Rather than open doors to fame and fortune, it has visited her with pain, sadness and depression. In this chat with ONYEKACHI JET during a recent meeting at a holiday resort in the Republic of Benin, where Jamin is currently on vacation, she disclosed that the organizers of the beauty pageant she won are her sources of heartache.

Excerpts:

How did you get into beauty pageantry?

I started as a model when I was 18 in 2012. I became the face of Exopa Modeling Agency in October 2012 and Miss Universe Ghana in 2013. Actually, a friend of mine invited me to take part in the auditioning. My friend assured me that I’m beautiful enough to win a beauty pageant. Although I wasn’t interested initially, later I discussed it with my mum, family and a few friends and they all encouraged me so I decided to go for the auditioning which I eventually won.

How does it feel being a beauty queen?

I felt so excited initially because it broadened my doors to opportunities. However, in my own case, it never really did. You find yourself going to places that ordinarily you never would and affords you the opportunity of meeting very important people. horizon; being a beauty queen opens the

After your reign, what should we expect from you?

I will start my pet project here in Lagos, Nigeria, where I grew up. The project is christened Hanniel Confidence Walk. It’s a project that would enable young women to know how beautiful they are and help build confidence in them. It is meant for women of all ages, sizes and colours; it is targeted at every woman, irrespective of complexion and height. It is a project that will positively impact on every young Nigerian woman and all African women in general.

Has being Miss Universe Ghana translated into fame and fortune?

To be very honest, my reign hasn’t brought anything nice. Rather it has been one year of struggling with the organizers; all the throne has brought me is pain, anguish, sorrow and grief.

How do you mean struggling with the organizers?

When I won the pageant in 2013, I was overjoyed and felt like ‘o, this is it!’ But sadly, it turned out to be something else. I thought I would get the prizes the same day or at least, a few days after. But to this day, the only thing I have received from the organizers is just three hair extensions instead of six, a one-day training and a set of cosmetics pack by PABA and a trip to Russia. The Paba Cosmetics pack was taken away from me by the organizers at the airport on my arrival from Russia. In Russia, a very popular Ghanaian footballer gave me $600 through my companion but that money never reached me.

What was the trip meant for?

I was in Russia to represent Ghana at the Miss Universe pageant. However, two months before my trip to Russia, the organizers siezed my passport because they didn’t want me to travel. They actually wanted one of my runners-up to undertake the trip. In fact, one of my runners-up was acting funny.

Are you suspecting any foul play?

Yes. I suspect foul play because any queen who refuses to compromise is sure to have problems with organizers till the end of her reign. The same thing happened to the Queen before me, Gifty Oforie, who is still having a running battle with the organizers of Miss Universe Ghana over her own prizes. As Miss Universe Ghana, I’m supposed to receive hair training and free hair products provided by Loriels but I have not received them. Talking about the prizes provided by PABA, I only received the one-day training. The products I was given was taken away from me on my arrival from Russia. I’m also supposed to get luxury transportation but they never gave me a car. I was driven about in taxis while the organizers rode in posh cars.

Was there no price money involved?

I was on monthly allowance of 1050 Ghana cedes (GHc). Again, that was something funny because they short-changed me. They may decide to pay for one month and then, for the next three months you got nothing. The first payment they made was GHc 500, which paid in cash. On that occasion, I was with my mother who happens to be my manager. Interestingly, the second payment I received was Ghcs 250 on September 3, 2013. That same day I was given the money I was kidnapped!

How did it happen?

In the morning of that fateful day, one of the organizers assigned to me came to pick me up from my house and said I was supposed to go to the Russian Embassy for visa to Russia. On our way back, they took me to another organizers’ house. There they said to me, ‘this is your salary.’ I counted it and it was not up to GHc 1050. It was GHc 250 and I rejected it. But the one who came to pick me from home said I should collect it and reserve my complaints for the project manager. I have all the documents here. (Handing this reporter copies of all the transactions.) So, I kept calm and collected the money. She then said I had an appearance. I demanded to know the nature of the appearance and location. She said I had to meet one of my sponsors.

However, she took me to Accra Passport Office and said she was there to cancel her cousin’s passport. It was past three in the afternoon and I pleaded with her to take me home. She then got out of the car and went into the passport office leaving me with the driver. After a while, she came back and said we were going to Adabraka to see their lawyers. Then I thought that afterwards, she would take me home.

But she said no. That we were also going to pick up the national director’s son from school and take him home. After that had been done, they did not take me home. Instead, they dropped me off at a bus-stop at Adabraka and said I should find my way home. I didn’t know anywhere in Adabraka so I was in a fix! Shortly afterwards, a taxi driver pulled up and I boarded it. He drove off and then asked where I kept the money I was paid that morning. I was surprised and wondered how he knew I was paid. He brought out a gun, took the GHc 250 I was paid that morning. He ordered me to cooperate with him or he will shoot me and shoot himself.

I was treated for trauma over that kidnap incident at the emergency unit of 37 Military Hospital, Accra. Yet, the pageant organizers claimed I was never kidnapped even when they visited me in the hospital while receiving treatment and threatened that the police were warning me against talking about the kidnap case. However, the police in Accra are still investigating the matter.

A similar incident occurred during my trip to Russia to represent Ghana at the Miss Universe pageant. The organizers forced me to sign some documents under duress saying that I had received all my prizes. When I refused to sign the papers, they said if I didn’t sign I should remember I’m on a transit flight to Russia and that anything could happen to me between Ghana and Russia.

On my way back to Ghana, they had ulterior motives so they didn’t inform my family or even my mum, who is my manager that I was returning. But unknown to them, I had told my family I was coming. So when they saw my family at the airport, they simply greeted them but went behind and smuggled me out of the departure area. When I was kidnapped, my family called the OSU police station and reported my disappearance. When I returned, they called to tell them I was back. A written statement was also made at the Amasama and Adabraka police stations. The police are still investigating the kidnap case. In all, the total payment I received was GHc500 and GHc250, which I was robbed off. I also received another GHc750 and GHc250.

So, what’s your impression about the pageant?

Since my being crowned Miss Universe Ghana 2013, it has been a long drawn battle between my manager, I and Roberta Annan Consulting Limited over my entitlements. The many troubles they put us through cannot allow for any meaningful impact while in office.


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Did this really happened? Ghana is some petty country ,later them go come dey measure height with Nigeria