By A Correspondent- In an attempt to escape biting poverty, a man from northern Nigeria allegedly put himself up for sale.

26-year-old Aliyu Idrisa, from neighbouring Kaduna was arrested after pictures emerged on social media showing him holding a placard indicating he was up for auction at 20 million Naira (US$49 000).

Lawal Ibrahim Fagge, a spokesman for the religious police called Hisbah confirmed the bizarre incident to Xtreme News Nigeria saying;

“We arrested him for putting himself up for sale, which is illegal under Islamic law.”

The religious police blamed Idrisa’s actions on poverty and ignorance.

According to the police report, Idrisa, went around the city last week with the placard inscribed with the sale offer.

On the placard, Idrisa promised to be a ‘loyal servant’ to his buyer.

Residents in Nigeria took images of Idrisa and posted them on the internet. The images went viral, prompting the Hisbach to arrest Idrisa.

Asked why he was auctioning himself, Idrisa revealed that he was “selling” himself out of “excruciating poverty”.

Idris said if he had successfully auctioned himself, he was to give half the money to his parents and two million naira to anyone who would have facilitated the auction.

In other news, iHarare reported that the bizarre case in which Doves Holdings Zimbabwe has been accused of giving a grieving family an empty coffin has taken a fresh new twist.

The funeral services company has accused the lawyers of the grieving family of trying to extort them.

According to Doves Holdings, one of the lawyers gave the company an ultimatum to give him US$123 000 and an SUV within 12 hours or else he would tarnish their image by publicising the bizarre case of the empty coffin.