Salisu Bilikisu has paid N127,000 to Joseph Abel (not a real name), an ex-corps member, for an iPhone X that went missing in May 2022.

This followed a story published by FIJ on January 6, detailing how Abel asked Bilikisu to help him deliver the phone to a repairer in Kebbi State but the latter ended up claiming a motorcyclist lost the phone.

Abel told FIJ on Monday that Balikisu’s family reached out to him following the story and paid the money in three tranches.

READ ALSO: Salisu Bilikisu Agreed to Deliver Corps Member’s iPhone X to Technician 7 Months Ago. The Phone Has Been Missing Since Then

“First, they paid me N20,000 and promised to pay the rest at a later date. True to their words, I woke up to a credit alert of N100,000 from Balikisu’s brother on April 13,” the resident of Lagos State said. “I received the final payment of N7,000, which capped the value of my phone about 10 months ago, on April 17.”

“I thank FIJ for helping me with its outlet to speak up about my challenge. I never knew they could be this prompted to pay this money.”

Abel had told FIJ that Balikisu made herself available to deliver his faulty handset to a phone repairer in Kebbi, only to claim the phone went missing.

“To my chagrin, Bilikisu called me that her bike man had lost my phone and she didn’t know how to table the issue to me on time. I simply couldn’t believe the claim,” he said.

“Initially, she was asking me about the market value of the phone, claiming that someone was interested in buying it. But I told her I didn’t want to sell it. Along the line, we both checked jiji.ng and compared prices. At the time, it was worth N128,000.”

READ ALSO: ‘They Came in their Hundreds’ — How Bandits Massacred ‘More Than 100’ Kebbi Villagers in Broad Daylight

Balikisu’s family waded in at some point and promised to pay for the phone at a certain time. They dragged their promise for months until this newspaper’s publication.