Former Ekiti Central senator Babafemi Ojudu has stated that intensified crackdowns by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on suspected internet fraudsters have triggered a mass exodus of young cybercrime suspects from Ekiti State, leaving hotels, lounges, apartment complexes, and other businesses in Ado Ekiti struggling with dwindling patronage.
EFCC's Permanent Presence Sparks Exodus
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Ojudu said the recent anti-graft operations exposed the extent to which parts of the state's urban economy had become reliant on the spending power of suspected internet fraudsters. His comments come barely two months after the EFCC opened its new Zonal Directorate office in Ado Ekiti, a move the agency said would strengthen operations across Ekiti and Ondo states.
During the commissioning, EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede declared that “tough times” awaited fraudsters operating in the region while assuring law-abiding residents they had nothing to fear from the agency's expanded presence.
Hotels, Lounges, and Supermarkets Hit Hard
Ojudu, who served as Special Adviser on Political Matters to late President Muhammadu Buhari under then-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said many young men popularly known as “Yahoo boys” have been abandoning the state for cities such as Ibadan, Akure, Osogbo, and Lagos to avoid the intensified crackdown.
“The EFCC has finally come to town. Not merely on occasional raids, but with a permanent command presence,” Ojudu wrote. “The young men popularly known as Yahoo boys, together with their numerous associates and hangers-on, have reportedly fled in large numbers. Their fear of the EFCC, it would seem, has become the beginning of wisdom.”
He reported that empty hotels, deserted lounges, struggling supermarkets, and declining commercial activities initially sounded exaggerated until he personally visited several businesses in Ado Ekiti. He recounted spending nearly an hour at a restaurant of a prominent hotel overlooking its swimming pool without seeing another customer. “I was the only customer,” he wrote.
Ojudu noted that the same hotel, only two years earlier, had struggled to accommodate guests due to heavy patronage from affluent young men. He also visited one of the city's popular lounges, which he described as “almost deserted,” adding that hotel car parks that once overflowed with luxury vehicles had become largely empty.
Beyond Hospitality: Landlords and Mechanics Feel the Pinch
The impacts extend beyond entertainment and hospitality. According to Ojudu, landlords are complaining about abandoned apartments, mechanics who previously serviced expensive vehicles are waiting endlessly for customers, and beer parlour operators and used-car dealers have also experienced declining patronage.
EFCC Intensifies Prosecutions
The former senator's remarks come amid heightened anti-corruption activities in Ekiti. In June, the EFCC inaugurated its permanent zonal headquarters in Ado Ekiti to strengthen investigations and enforcement. Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, described the facility as a major boost to Nigeria's anti-corruption campaign during the inauguration.
The commission has also intensified prosecutions, including the arraignment of a couple before the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti over an alleged N1.09 billion contract fraud. Investigators accused them of diverting funds into properties and other assets believed to be proceeds of crime.
Although the EFCC has not officially linked recent business slowdowns in Ado Ekiti to its enforcement activities, Ojudu maintained that the agency's sustained presence has altered the economic landscape. “The empty hotels and deserted lounges may represent temporary economic pain,” he said. “The emptiness of our moral landscape, however, is a far greater tragedy. Empty hotels can be filled again. A generation emptied of values is far more difficult to restore.”
When Crime Became an Economy
While acknowledging the immediate economic consequences, Ojudu argued that the crackdown revealed a deeper social crisis. He stated that a significant portion of the urban economy had become dependent on the spending power of young men living off internet fraud. That should frighten everyone.
He warned that many young Nigerians increasingly view internet fraud as a viable career path, lamenting the erosion of values that once celebrated education, hard work, and professional success. The danger extends beyond financial crimes, he said: “When ordinary internet fraud no longer produces enough money, darker stories emerge. One hears disturbing tales of Yahoo Plus, ritual practices, organ trafficking, and other forms of occult criminality allegedly intended to guarantee success.”
Ojudu argued that a society that rewards unexplained wealth risks producing future leaders whose values are shaped by criminality rather than integrity. “If fraud becomes the classroom in which today's youth are trained, fraud will inevitably become the language through which tomorrow's society is governed,” he warned.
