How Yahoo Yahoo Boys Go About With Escorts
Afez Ibrahim and James Okon (not real names) live in Lagos and Uyo respectively. They are young and they live in affluence. Anytime they want to go out of their palatial homes, they just make calls and before you could say Jack Robinson, men dress in police uniform are ready at the gate, waiting to be ushered to see the young lads.
By Ovie Edomi
Sometimes the uniform policemen would spend days in the compound after escorting them to parties, casinoes, church weddings etc. Most times their journeys take them to different parts of the country. Curiously, the numbers of Yahoo Yahoo Boys including cultists who now go about with police security men has placed a question mark on the police.
Observers say that the deverlopment is a telling irony of how the police that ought to protect lives and properties of Nigerians are now protecting persons who they should be hurting for, because of their trade mark in obtaining money from people under fake pretence, cyber bulling using occultism, hypnotism and so on.
Facts abound of how Yahoo Yahoo boys, kidnappers, ritualists and cultists have been accompanied by armed security operatives in Uyo, Benin, Taraba, Lagos, Abuja and so on. In some cases some of the security operatives go on uniform to book hotel rooms for the Yahoo Yahoo boys or ritualists to avoid too many questions by hoteliers under the guise that the person they are booking the room for, is a wealthy person whose identity needs not be disclosed for security reasons. So they collect the key to the room and usher their VIP Yahoo Yahoo boss or ritualists to the room where all manner of atrocities are committed including fraud.
Following trail of persons involved in fraudulent activities especially those that borders on financial crimes by the EFCC, and shortly after the Endsars protest, investigation by the magazine revealed that as a cover up and in a bid to avoid stop and search by the police, NDELA and other security officers on the road, Yahoo Yahoo boys decided to engage the service of police escorts.
At Berger bridge which is gateway to Lagos, policemen who are ready to offer service to Yahoo Yahoo boys, car smugglers and so on, are always hanging around for a fee. For instance to escort a car from Lagos to Benin, Onitsha, Porthercourt, Asaba, Warri range from N100,000 to half a million Naira and that is for one trip. If the client wants the officer to return to Lagos with him, the price become double.
Investigation also revealed that coded policemen are equally in Asaba before the Niger bridge and also at the old Benin toll gate waiting for client to hire them for a fee.
How did we get to this telling irony that some policeman now concentrate on the protection of people perceived to be holigans and undesirable elements of the society.
In a recent video, security operatives went to arrest a young man believed to be a drug Lord but the mobile policemen guarding him disarmed the security operatives. Before the security operatives gained access to the compound, the suspected drug Lord was seen making call to a highly placed person until the over- powdered security operatives left the premises. Also over 150 Yahoo Yahoo boys were recently arrested inside an Army barrack in Effurun, Delta State.
Analysts believe that the police IG needs to improve the salary of the police and ensure adequate training to make the police force truly professional in practice as it is in other developed countries. Observes also noted that part of the assignment or task of the Inspector – General of police is to purge the force of bad egg that are giving the police bad name.
It would be called that the Otokoto money ritual saga that happened on 19th September in Owerri, the Imo State capital, where 11 years old boy named Anthony Ikchukwu Okoronkwo was murder for ritual purposes was foiled when an Okada ride named Opara discovered that the passenger he was carrying had inside his polythene bag, a fresh human head, with blood dropping, he quickly alerted the police after the passenger alighted. The police swooped into action and the police arrested the murderer, Dr Innocent Ekeanyanwu. That was how hell broke loose and Owerri people went haywire. After that incident, Owerri has never been the heaven of ritualists. Also in December 3, 1986 Lawrence Anini, a notorious armed robber with the aid of senior police officer under disguise caught Anini the armed robber, believed to be invisible at a time. He was caught at a house in Benin city, between 2nd and 3rd East Circular road in company of his girlfriend. The police shot Anini in the leg before he was arrested and transferred to military hospital.
But for the police also, convicted billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans who was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment by justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Ikeja special Offences Court, was initially arrested at his No 3 Fred Shogboyede street Magodo Lagos on June 10, 2017 by the Police Intelligence Response Team after almost ten years of high – profile abductions across the country, during which he collected dollars as ransoms from his victims. Evans, it was discovered operated with one Victor Aduba, an ex-soldier.
Similarly, Wadume whose real name is Hamisu Bala, based in Taraba State but operated across North East, North West and North Central was arrested by the Inspector-General of police Intelligence Team (IRT) on August 6, 2019 in Taraba State. Though the prosecution team failed to prove the charges of kidnapping against him, he was however sentenced to seven years in jail by the federal high court, Abuja for unlawful dealing in prohibited firearms. The convict has however since been released upon complection of the jail term.
Although the global betchmark by the UN is at least 10 policemen to 450 Citizen. In Nigeria, while a minimum of two to fifteen policeman guard highly placed public figures including politicians, business Executives and CEO of Corporations, banks, public institutions and so on, those left to protect members of the public are absolutely not enough. Even the few that should be protecting lives and properties are more interested in escorting people of questionable source of wealth.
in Nigeria it is not certain what the ratio of one police man to the citizens is but analysts say the Nigeria ratio is far more than the UN ratio of 10 policemen to 450 citizens.
Meanwhile, in Kenya it is one policeman to 1,150 citizen. In Ghana it is one to 1,200, while in Tanzania it is one to 1,289. This analyst say accounts for the high level of crimes in many parts of Nigeria.
To curb the trend, a security expert who spoke to this reporter under annoymity noted that the spy police that was introduced by the police force should be an arm of the Nigeria police force created to generate revenue. He averred that spy police should be the Nigeria police’s arm trained to protect high profile individuals across Nigeria and this should be done to revenue generation and not for policemen to collude with their superior and leave the police station to go and guard Yahoo Yahoo boys for a fee.
Though the Nigeria police force recently dissociated itself from the operations and mannerism of some Supernumerary Police Officers. In the press statement, the Police clarified that Supernumerary Police Officers also known as spy police are not regular police officers of the Nigeria police but private individuals trained by the Nigeria police to specifically provide security functions within their primary place of employment as such they do not swear allegiance to the Nigeria police force like the regular policemen.
Observers say for a country with a population of below five hundred thousand police officers that is when the recently recruited policemen are added to the initial 371,800 officers, when the ratio of the Police to Nigerians is considered, it is far below the United Nations’ standard of one policeman to 450 citizens. So why still allow a large number of policemen to leave the police station to go to guard private individuals whose businesses hardly attract investments to Nigeria rather many of such people that are guarded get involved in deals that lower the reputation of Nigeria
Meanwhile, since the Nigeria police has frown at the wearing of spy uniform to deceive members of the public how will the lay man differentiate between a real police officer and those who are possibly fake?.
Certainly, these are trying times for the Nigeria Inspector – General of police and his team especially now when public trust in the police is waning and there is a need to build the trust in the police for the protection of lives and properties. For now, the rumblings over the police continues.