A Delta State man, Michael James, has admitted to orchestrating his own abduction in a bid to collect N25m from his family, according to the state police command.
The confession was revealed in a video released on Sunday by the command's spokesperson, Bright Edafe, where the suspect explained that mounting debts owed to his siblings prompted the failed scheme.
James said he left home on July 1 to dispose of refuse but instead abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush. Afterward, he telephoned his mother, falsely claiming that kidnappers had seized him and were demanding N25m before releasing him.
He also told his family that his supposed captors were assaulting him and requested that N700,000 be transferred to them.
According to the suspect, he later became frightened after discovering that the police and local vigilantes had launched a search operation. He then left his hiding place, travelled to another location on a motorcycle and eventually informed his relatives that he had escaped.
Confirming the incident, Edafe said officers deployed intelligence tools to trace the suspect after receiving the distress report.
He explained that James was located alive and later confessed that the kidnap story was fabricated to deceive his family into paying the ransom.
The police spokesman warned that security agencies would continue to clamp down on individuals who stage kidnappings to defraud their relatives or mislead law enforcement authorities.
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