By Oludare Richards
Across Nigeria, a disturbing trend is emerging where the lines between victim and villain are increasingly blurred: It is the practice of self-kidnapping. A phenomenon where individuals stage their own abduction to extort money from family members, employers or well-wishers. OLUDARE RICHARDS explores the implications and consequences of this menace on perpetrators, victims and the society.
Experts have argued that failure of the state to protect lives and property has created a vacuum such that criminality feels like a viable survival strategy. Some insist that until Nigeria addresses the root causes, the biting poverty, the breakdown of community moral structures, and the desperation of a youth population that feels it has no other way out aside of crime and the cries for help from the kidnapper’s den may continue to be nothing more than a scripted lie.
In 2025, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) reported a sharp spike in self-kidnapping, a phenomenon where individuals stage their own abduction to extort money from family members, employers or well-wishers.
Data from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) revealed the gravity of the broader security context, noting that between January 2024 and April 2025 alone, there were 3,012 recorded incidents of kidnapping and 3,584 killings.
Within this chaos, the police have raised the alarm that a significant and growing percentage of these reported kidnappings are fraudulent events. Only on January 17, 2026, the Lagos State Police Command issued a strong warning to residents over a disturbing rise in staged kidnappings aimed at extorting ransom from unsuspecting family members. The alert was issued by the command’s spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The Guardian checks revealed that several viral kidnapping videos and distress calls circulating online were found to be scams orchestrated by the supposed victims themselves. However, the Lagos Police Command said it was intensifying monitoring efforts, particularly, across social media, to detect and prevent the spread of staged abduction schemes swiftly.
“The command is also closely monitoring reports on social media and other platforms to promptly verify and address any incidents that may cause public anxiety,” Adebisi said.
“One such case involved a 26-year-old housewife whose supposed abduction set off alarm bells across borders,” she said.
“It was that inconsistency that triggered deeper police scrutiny; a special squad of the Lagos State Police Command was deployed, and what they uncovered was not a hostage situation, but a carefully choreographed scam,” Adebisi added.
The woman reportedly partnered with an accomplice in Osun State who provided a SIM card used to demand ransom via WhatsApp. She later confessed that the iPhone she claimed was stolen during the ordeal had already been sold.
Police authorities confirmed that this was not an isolated incident, with similar patterns being observed across Lagos.
Further investigations revealed more incidents of fake abductions involving young people and couples seeking to extort money from their families.
In another incident, a couple staged the wife’s kidnapping in a plot to extort N10 million, which was eventually uncovered at a school in Lagos.
The husband, Doubara David Yabrifa, a 53-year-old technician, and the wife, Regina Yabrifa, a 48-year-old body massager and bone setter, were apprehended after a family member reported the purported kidnapping.
The couple confessed to planning the self-kidnap to raise N3 million to purchase a property in Badagry, Lagos. The husband justified the act, citing financial difficulties and lack of support from relatives. Both were arrested and subsequently charged to court.
These cases were initially reported as genuine missing person incidents, fueling public panic before police investigations revealed the truth.
Five suspects aged between 15 and 20 were also arrested in connection with a staged kidnapping involving a 15-year-old boy. The boy, aided by four friends, faked his abduction in Ago Palace, leading his mother to pay N1.7 million in ransom.
Detectives traced the transaction through a POS terminal, leading to the suspects’ arrest. An account of related events is that of a purported victim, Victor Aligwo. His supposed assailants sent a video to Victor’s parents to reinforce the seriousness of their demands with promises of further consequences.
The video was enough to turn any mother’s stomach. The teenage schoolboy, Victor, cowered in a dimly lit room, his voice trembling as he pleaded for his life. Behind the camera, his captors were cold, demanding N1.7 million for his release.
For his mother, who had recently received a N4 million payout from a local contribution club (ajoo), it was a living nightmare. But she paid the ransom immediately, afraid the child would be killed.
When the Lagos State Police Command finally tracked the money through a Point-of-Sale terminal in December 2025, the den they raided was not a forest hideout in the bush. It was a room in Ago Palace, and the kidnappers were Victor’s own friends.
The entire ordeal had been a performance, scripted and directed by the victim himself to fleece his mother of her savings.
Experts believe that the case, involving the arrested suspects identified as 17-year-old Kosiko Patrick, 15-year-old Victor Aligwo, 19-year-old David Odudu, 20-year-old Anyabike Kingsley, and 19-year-old Umeh Victor, is no longer an isolated incident but a symptom of a deeper, more pervasive rot. Such incident was condemned by Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Olohundare Jimoh, who spoke against the defrauding act.
The Guardian checks also revealed that on February 8, 2026, the police foiled a dispatch officer’s staged kidnapping in Edo. He allegedly attempted to conceal a ₦1.3 million gambling loss with the the story. The police said the suspect initially claimed he was kidnapped by three men and forced to trek barefoot through the forest for over three days.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, Moses Yamu, disclosed the incident in a statement issued on Monday.
According to the statement, the case was reported on January 30, 2026, at about 4:00pm, when one Moses Ekes informed the Okpella Police Division that his nephew, David Ekes, an employee of Dibecs Industry Limited, had been missing since January 27.
“On 30/01/2026 at about 1600hrs, one Moses Ekes ‘M’, of Dibecs Industry Limited, reported at the Okpella Police Division that his nephew, David Ekes ‘M’, aged 21 years, a dispatch officer with the company, dark in complexion, about 5ft tall, and fluent in Ijaw and English languages, had been missing since 27/01/2026 at about 2030hrs.
“The said David Ekes left his quarters alone on a black, unregistered motorcycle from Factory 2 to Factory 3, contrary to company policy, and was not seen or heard from thereafter. The motorcycle was later discovered parked along the road leading to Factory 3 and subsequently recovered to the company’s main office,” the statement read.
Following the report, operatives of the Okpella Police Division visited the scene, carried out a search of the surrounding bush area and commenced an investigation.
However, in a twist, the police said information was received the following morning, January 31, at about 8:00am, that the missing dispatch officer had returned on his own in a weakened state.
“He was taken to a hospital in Okpella, where police operatives visited and monitored his condition,” the statement added.
Upon his discharge, the suspect initially claimed that he had been kidnapped by three unidentified men, who allegedly forced him to trek barefoot through the forest for more than three days, during which his Tecno Camon mobile phone was taken and funds withdrawn from his First Bank account.
According to the police, investigators further established that the suspect reportedly travelled to Abuja shortly after the loss, sold his mobile phone, lodged in a hotel and staged his own kidnapping to cover up the missing funds.
“Discrete investigation, however, has revealed that between 25/01/2026 and 26/01/2026, the suspect lost a total sum of ₦1,308,000.00, belonging to his company and a customer, through online gambling on a visual sporty betting platform.
“He then immediately travelled to Abuja, sold his mobile phone, lodged in a hotel, and deliberately staged his own kidnapping to cover up the financial loss. The suspect has since confessed to the crime and will be arraigned in court to serve as a deterrent to others,” the police said.
Reacting to the incident, the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Monday Agbonika, warned members of the public against false distress reports and criminal deception, noting that such actions waste critical security resources and undermine public trust.
It was gathered that a massive crackdown in Kano State, late 2025, led to the arrest of over 3,000 suspects involved in various crimes, with a notable portion linked to orchestrated and staged abductions meant to manipulate the current atmosphere of fear.
The police, however, have insisted that the net is closing in on these actor-victims as the force intensifies its use of intelligence-led policing and digital tracking, but considering some concerning cases, the societal scars left behind by these deceptions will take generations to heal with cases such as “a university student who faked her abduction to get money from her family, intending to give it to her boyfriend for a business”, or that of a young man, Nnamdi Agu, who faked his kidnap in Abuja in an attempt to defraud one of his family members residing around River Park Estate, Abuja, to make money to pay for his personal pleasures.
A sociologist, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar, noted that this represents a debasement of values where the family, once a sacred unit, has become a crime scene where children see their parents as targets to be hacked through fear.
It was gathered that in many urban centres, the pressure to maintain a certain lifestyle has driven young Nigerians toward increasingly desperate measures. Police interrogations often reveal that the money obtained from staged kidnappings is rarely used for survival; instead, it is funneled into high-end electronics, luxury fashion, or the initial capital required to launch more sophisticated cyber-fraud operations.
This transition from Internet scams to domestic psychological warfare represents a dangerous escalation in the Nigerian criminal landscape. It suggests that the moral barriers that once prevented children from victimising their own blood have dissolved under the weight of peer pressure and the idolisation of overnight wealth.
According to the Kwara State Register of Laws, staging your own kidnapping is not just a prank or a family matter; it is a serious felony under Nigerian law with severe statutory consequences. The Kwara State Prohibition of Kidnapping Law of 2010, for instance, specifically provides in Section 9 that anyone putting themselves forward to be kidnapped for ransom is liable to 20 years of imprisonment without the option of a fine.
Similarly, the Ondo State Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Abduction Law carries a 15-year sentence for arranging one’s own kidnap.
In a more drastic move, the Edo State House of Assembly in February 2025, passed the Kidnapping Prohibition (Amendment) Law 2025, signed by Governor Monday Okpebholo, which introduces the death penalty for kidnappers and mandates the demolition of properties used to harbor victims.
This law aims to curb the high rate of abduction by replacing the previous life imprisonment sentence with the death penalty.
At a federal level, the Criminal Code of Southern Nigeria addresses these acts under sections 419 and 422 regarding obtaining by false pretenses and conspiracy, which can carry sentences ranging from 7 to 15 years.
Furthermore, a proposed Federal Anti-Kidnapping Bill seeks to elevate the penalty for conspiracy and false representation of kidnapping to 20 years or even life imprisonment. These actions also violate the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as they waste state resources and obstruct the liberty of others who might be wrongly accused during investigations.
The legal complexity increases when minor children are involved. Under the Child Rights Act, the prosecution must balance the severity of the crime with the rehabilitation of the juvenile.
Security experts warn that this trend does more than just break hearts; it breaks the security system. Every hour spent investigating a fake kidnapping is an hour taken away from saving a real victim.
Retired Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Ighodalo explains that it creates a “boy who cried wolf” scenario where the public and the police begin to doubt every report, causing real victims to pay the price in blood.
The NHRC said it recorded in March 2025 alone 278 abductions, an increase of 240 per cent compared to previous months. When a significant portion of these are later discovered to be hoaxes, it demoralises the force and stretches already thin resources, a retired Police Superintendent from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), who prefers to be identified simply as Toyin, told newsmen.“Psychologically, the impact on families is often permanent. Even after the truth comes out, the trauma of the initial kidnap often leads to broken homes, clinical depression, and a total collapse of trust within the family unit,” she said.
The former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who had served in both northern and southern regions of Nigeria said that the geographic spread of these incidents show that no region is immune.
“While the North-West and North-Central regions deal with mass abductions by bandits, such as the 2025 Niger State school kidnapping where 303 students were taken, urban centres like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja are seeing more of these sophisticated, staged hoaxes,” she added.
She explained that the Lagos State Police Command has had to repeatedly debunk recurring fake advisories on social media about kidnapping hotspots, which are often used by fraudsters to create a climate of fear conducive to their staged plots.
This “security-alert” misinformation, which first surfaced in early 2024 and reappeared in late 2025, is often a precursor to individuals attempting to capitalise on the public’s anxiety.
“Addressing this epidemic requires more than just police arrests; it requires a structural overhaul of how we approach youth engagement and mental health.
“The widening scale of insecurity has prompted huge allocations of the national budget to security, yet the internal threat of self-sabotage by citizens through staged crimes remains a blind spot,” she said.
Furthermore, the role of Point-of-Sale (POS) operators cannot be ignored. In many of the staged cases recorded in 2025, POS terminals served as the primary conduits for ransom payments. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said they have tightened regulations, requiring more stringent
“Know Your Customer” (KYC) protocols for POS agents.
However, the sheer volume of transactions and the informal nature of many kiosks have made it difficult to monitor.
Police reports indicate that perpetrators often collaborate with rogue POS operators who take a percentage of the ‘ransom’ in exchange for providing cash and clearing the digital trail, highlighting a need for a multi-agency approach involving financial regulators, telecom companies, and law enforcement.
According to the NHRC, staged kidnappings directly contribute to this by forcing law enforcement into positions where they must treat every “victim” with skepticism, potentially infringing on the rights of actual victims during the high-pressure window of initial response.
The commission noted that this culture of deceit also scares away foreign investors, who see the rising kidnapping numbers, without distinguishing between real and staged, as a sign of an ungovernable state, contributing to a decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which saw a significant 70.06 per cent decrease in Q1 2025.
“This is the legal reality that many of these perpetrators fail to grasp when they begin filming their distress videos. The era of treating these as “family matters” is over; the state now views every false report as a direct attack on national security and a wasteful diversion of the limited resources meant to keep 200 million people safe.
A legal analyst, Komeh Kure said that ultimately, the phenomenon of staged kidnapping is a mirror held up to the face of the nation. It reflects a society where the ends justify the means, where fear is a commodity, and where the most vulnerable, the family, is under siege from within.
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