“I am the king of kidnappers in Nigeria,” he told cameras this week, as police escorted him around several Lagos houses where his victims were kept.
In a kidnapping similar to that of 200 girls taken from their school by Boko Haram, more than 100 people have been taken into a forest in Nigeria.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and leaders from neighbouring countries have gathered to forge a regional strategy against the Islamist group.
The kidnapped father of Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel was freed after detectives traced him to a city in north Nigeria and arrested his abductors.
Nick Greyling, the Supersport sound engineer who was kidnapped in Nigeria, arrived safely in South Africa on Wednesday morning.
A South African who was being held hostage in Nigeria was released on Monday evening, the Department of International Relations said.
A cameraman who was among three members of a South African television crew abducted in Nigeria has fled to safety and is now in Lagos.
The abductors of a South African citizen in Nigeria had not made contact with any authorities by Tuesday morning.