An Abuja-based security guard, identified as Sunday, has confessed to staging his own kidnapping to extort N4 million from his family so he could travel to his village for the Christmas holidays.

The confession came during an interrogation video shared on Facebook on Wednesday by the Federal Capital Territory Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh.

According to Adeh, Sunday used a friend’s phone without their knowledge to call his family, claiming he had been abducted and that his captors were demanding N4 million as ransom.

“When his family later contacted the friend to negotiate the ransom and plead for Sunday’s safety, the friend was shocked,” Adeh explained. “Realizing he had been falsely implicated, the friend reported the matter to the police, which led to Sunday’s arrest.”

Adeh added, “Sunday staged his own kidnapping and demanded N4 million from his family using a colleague’s phone because he wanted to travel to the East for the Christmas holidays. He called his parents in Igbo, falsely claiming that his friend had kidnapped him. The friend, who had no idea about the plan, later went to the Jabi Police Station to report the incident.”

During questioning, Sunday admitted to orchestrating the fake kidnapping and using his friend’s phone to demand the ransom. “I did that because I needed money to go to my village,” he said. “I demanded N4 million as ransom. I do not feel okay about what I did.”

This incident is part of a growing trend of individuals exploiting security concerns to stage self-kidnappings and extort money from family members. In a similar case reported last month, a 26-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly faking her own abduction to extort N2.5 million from her husband.