‘I kidnapped myself because I owed my siblings money’ — Man confesses after faking own kidnap to demand ₦25m ransom

• Michael James admitted staging his own kidnapping to demand a ₦25 million ransom from his family. 

• He said he faked the abduction because he owed money to his brother and sister and had no means of repaying them. 

• James hid in a bush, called his mother to claim he had been kidnapped and later demanded ₦700,000, alleging his captors were assaulting him. 

• Delta Police spokesperson Bright Edafe said digital intelligence helped officers uncover the plot, leading to James' confession. 

A Delta State resident, Michael James, has confessed to staging his own kidnapping in a bid to extort ₦25 million from his family, claiming he resorted to the scheme because he owed money to his brother and sister and had no means of paying them back. 

James made the confession in an interrogation video released by the Delta State Police Command through its spokesperson, Bright Edafe, after police uncovered what was initially reported as a kidnapping case. 

Introducing himself in the video, James admitted that the entire abduction was staged.

“My name is Michael James. I am from Edo State, but I live in Delta State. I kidnapped myself. The reason I kidnapped myself was that I owed my sister and my brother, and I had already spent the money. I had no way of paying it back,” he said. 

According to his confession, the plan began on July 1 after his family asked him to dispose of refuse. Instead of returning home, he abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush, where he began carrying out his plan. 

James said he deliberately ignored repeated calls from his mother before eventually contacting her to claim that he had been kidnapped and that his abductors were demanding ₦25 million for his release.

“After some time, my mum started calling me, but I did not answer. Later, I called my mum and told her that I had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding ₦25m. Then I ended the call,” he recounted. 

He further admitted that he later called his mother again, falsely claiming the supposed kidnappers were beating him and demanding an immediate payment of ₦700,000.

“When I picked up, I told her that the kidnappers were flogging me and that she should transfer ₦700,000 to them,” he said. 

However, the scheme began to unravel after his mother informed him that the police and local vigilantes had already launched efforts to rescue him.

James said he became frightened when he realised security operatives were searching for him. As rain approached later that day, he left the bush on a commercial motorcycle, relocated to another area and then called his family again, claiming he had escaped from his captors. 

Reacting to the incident, Bright Edafe, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, said officers immediately launched an investigation after receiving the kidnapping report.

According to Edafe, the command deployed digital intelligence to trace the suspect's location.

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“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 added that James eventually admitted he fabricated the kidnapping to extort ₦25 million from his family. 

The incident is the latest in a growing number of alleged self-kidnapping cases in Nigeria. In June, the Ogun State Police Command arrested eight foreign nationals over an alleged staged kidnapping scheme designed to extort money from relatives abroad after investigations revealed the reported abduction had been fabricated.