A young man, Franklin Obiajuru Egwuatu, has narrated how officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) physically assaulted and extorted N100,000 from him for looking like a “Yahoo boy.”
“Yahoo boy” is a loose expression used by security operatives and many Nigerians to describe an internet fraudster.
The incident, according to him, happened on Friday, November 29, along the Seme-Badagry highway.
Franklin told The Bureau Newspaper that he was coming from the Benin Republic where he had been living since 2017.
He said he was treated like a criminal and forced to transfer money from his Access Bank to a Moniepoint Microfinance Bank account number 6739461449, owned by Apexze Global Concept Limited- Joy Yakubu.
A check by The Bureau Newspaper revealed that Apexze Global Concept Limited with Registration number, 7083495, whose business address is at Igbereko street, Badagry, Lagos, was incorporated on 07, August, 2023.
It has Joy Yakubu as the sole owner.
“Personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service extorted N100,000 from me for looking like a yahoo boy. It happened yesterday at Seme/Badagry expressway,” Franklin told The Bureau Newspaper.
“They equally checked my phone and found nothing incriminating, but insisted I was a Yahoo boy because of my wife’s phone number which is of Benin Republic. I married a woman from Benin Republic and living there since 2017.
“They beat and accused me of fraud with no evidence to justify their accusations. I was subsequently taken to an uncompleted building where they threatened to shoot and kill me. Then, they gave me this account number, 6739461449, Moniepoint belonging to Apexze Global Concept to transfer N100,000 to which I did under duress.”
Nigerian Immigration Service personnel like their colleagues in the Nigerian Customs are notorious for border areas extortions and bending of standards to rip money off foreigners and Nigerians.
The NIS authorities have yet to react to this latest incident of extortion.