A Delta State resident, Michael James, has admitted to staging his own kidnapping in an attempt to extort N25 million from his family, saying he was desperate after spending money he owed his siblings.
James made the confession in an interrogation video shared on Sunday by the Delta State Police Command spokesperson, Bright Edafe.
According to James, he carried out the scheme because he had no means of repaying money he owed his brother and sister.
“My name is Michael James. I am from Edo State, but I live in Delta State. I kidnapped myself because I owed my sister and my brother, and I had already spent the money. I had no way of paying it back,” he said.
James said that on July 1, he was sent to dispose of refuse but instead abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush. He ignored repeated calls from his mother before eventually contacting her to claim he had been kidnapped and that his abductors were demanding N25 million for his release.
He said he later called again, alleging that the kidnappers were beating him and insisting that N700,000 be transferred to them.
According to James, he became alarmed after his mother informed him that the police and local vigilantes had launched efforts to rescue him.
As rain approached later that day, he said he left the bush on a motorcycle and relocated before calling his family to claim he had escaped from his captors.
Reacting to the incident, Edafe said the command immediately launched an investigation after receiving a report of the alleged kidnapping.
“We received a distress call that he was kidnapped. The command embarked on digitally generated intelligence and trailed him to where he was allegedly being kept, only for the suspect to run out, claiming he escaped from the kidnappers,” Edafe said.
“He later confessed that he kidnapped himself so he could extort his family of N25 million.”
The incident is the latest in a series of self-kidnapping cases reported in Nigeria.
In June, the Ogun State Police Command arrested eight foreign nationals in connection with an alleged self-kidnapping scheme in the Agbado area of Ogun State.
Police spokesperson Oluseyi Babaseyi said investigations showed the purported abduction had been staged to extort money from relatives abroad.
