For years, Friday and Saturday nights in Ado-Ekiti were associated with a particular kind of excitement. From Bank Road to Adebayo, Ajilosun, Iworoko Road and other busy parts of the Ekiti State capital, lounges, bars, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs came alive as young men arrived in expensive cars, ordered drinks, booked rooms, bought food and spent money freely.
But that atmosphere has changed dramatically in recent months.
The arrival of a permanent operational presence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ekiti State has sent fear through a section of young people suspected of involvement in internet fraud, popularly known as “Yahoo Yahoo”. Many of those who once formed a large part of the nightlife crowd are said to have left Ado-Ekiti for other cities, while others have drastically reduced their movements and spending.
The consequence, according to reports from the city, is being felt far beyond the people targeted by the anti-graft agency. Hotels are recording fewer guests, lounges are struggling to fill tables, restaurants are seeing fewer customers and some nightlife businesses are reportedly considering shutting down.
The issue has become so significant that former Ekiti Central Senator Babafemi Ojudu recently drew attention to what he described as a disturbing relationship between internet fraud and the local urban economy.
“The EFCC has finally come to town. Not merely on occasional raids, but with a permanent command presence,” Ojudu wrote. He added, “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.”
The EFCC’s activities in Ekiti did not begin with the establishment of its new office. In June 2025, the commission arrested 34 suspected internet fraudsters in Iworoko and Ijado areas of Ado-Ekiti. According to the EFCC, 11 exotic cars, laptops, mobile phones and other items were recovered during the operation.
Earlier, the commission had also carried out arrests in Ado-Ekiti in previous years. In one 2021 operation, 37 suspected internet fraudsters were arrested at a location the EFCC described as a hideout for fraudsters.
But the latest development has been different because the commission now has a permanent command presence in the state capital. The establishment of the Ado-Ekiti office has created a feeling among suspected fraudsters that the days when they could operate freely are over.
For some businesses, however, the change has come with an unexpected economic price.
Ojudu said he had initially been sceptical about reports that hotels and lounges in Ado-Ekiti were becoming empty. But after visiting some of the establishments himself, he said he saw the situation firsthand.
“I was the only customer,” he said of his visit to the restaurant of a prominent hotel overlooking its swimming pool.
According to him, the situation was particularly striking because the same establishment had, only two years earlier, struggled to accommodate the number of young affluent customers patronising it.
He also visited one of the city’s popular lounges and described it as “almost deserted”, while hotel car parks that once had luxury vehicles lined up were reportedly much emptier.
The picture becomes clearer when one considers the importance of nightlife to Ado-Ekiti’s informal economy.
Establishments such as YOLO Lounge, Radiance Lounge and Bar and AGO LOUNGE are among the city’s identifiable entertainment businesses. Other venues listed around Ado-Ekiti include Signature Sports Lounge and Night Club, Waves Luxury Night Club, The Royal Lounge, Elegant Lounge and Bar, and Melting Point Lounge, Bars and Bowls.
These establishments are part of a wider hospitality chain that includes restaurants, hotels, food vendors, taxi operators, car-hire services, laundry businesses, fashion stores, barbers, DJs, event promoters, security personnel and others who depend on nightlife patronage.
When a customer spends N200,000 or N300,000 in a lounge, the money does not end with the person who sells the drinks. It passes through waiters, bartenders, DJs, security guards, suppliers, food vendors, transport workers and other service providers.
That is why the sudden disappearance of big spenders can have a multiplying effect.
Ado-Ekiti’s nightlife economy had become accustomed to young men who could spend far beyond what an average salary earner could afford. Some of them were known for buying expensive bottles, paying for tables, booking hotel rooms and moving around in expensive vehicles.
A recent report illustrated just how much money some nightlife establishments were accustomed to seeing. A visitor to a premier nightclub in Ado-Ekiti was reportedly told that a table could only be occupied if the customers committed to a minimum drink order of N300,000.
That kind of spending became part of the nightlife culture that many young people in the city came to associate with success.
But with the EFCC now operating from the state capital, the calculation has changed.
The young men who once appeared at lounges in groups, often accompanied by friends and women, are reportedly staying away. Some are said to have moved to nearby cities including Akure, Osogbo and Ibadan, while others have reportedly gone to Lagos and other locations where they believe they can avoid the level of scrutiny now experienced in Ekiti.
Ojudu wrote that those leaving Ekiti were “relocating to Akure, Osogbo, Ibadan, Lagos, and other cities where they believe they can operate with less scrutiny.”
This has created an uncomfortable situation for legitimate business owners.
Many operators are caught between 2 realities. On one hand, they welcome the fight against Cybercrime because no serious business owner wants his establishment associated with criminal activity. On the other hand, some had become dependent on customers whose spending power was significantly higher than that of ordinary residents.
The contradiction is at the heart of the current crisis.
One business may be completely legitimate, yet a large percentage of its customers may have obtained their money through illegal means. Once those customers disappear, the legitimate business suffers.
This is why the situation has generated debate across Ado-Ekiti.
Some residents argue that businesses should never have depended on suspected internet fraudsters in the first place.
A builder quoted in a report captured that argument bluntly.
“We work hard for our money; those Yahoo boys can run wherever they want,” he said.
“Look at us. What are they drinking that we can’t afford? We are the new Yahoo boys in town!”
He explained that the hotel he helped construct had been built gradually with legitimate income.
“Because it wasn’t built with Yahoo money, we laid the blocks gradually, raising walls only as real resources became available,” he said.
That argument reflects a growing feeling that Ekiti must not build its economy around illicit wealth.
Yet, for workers who depend on daily customers, moral arguments do not immediately pay their bills.
A bartender whose establishment loses 50 customers on a busy night may still have rent, electricity, salaries and suppliers to pay. A hotel with empty rooms still has staff to pay. A restaurant with fewer customers still has food that can spoil. A nightclub still has DJs, security men and other workers who expect payment.
The effect therefore extends beyond the owners.
Ado-Ekiti’s nightlife economy has historically attracted students, civil servants, business people, visitors and young professionals. But reports about the city’s nightlife have also documented how strongly some entertainment venues were associated with internet fraudsters.
A 2025 report described Yahoo boys as major customers in the city’s nightlife and quoted a sex worker as saying, “Ordinary students cannot afford us. They spend freely, even pay for trips outside the state.”
That provides another window into the spending ecosystem that existed around the suspected fraud economy.
The EFCC, however, rejects the suggestion that its activities are designed to destroy legitimate businesses.
EFCC Head of Media and Publicity Dele Oyewale said the commission’s officers operate professionally and according to established procedures.
“We don’t harass and we don’t intimidate. We don’t do night operations,” he said.
“Our officers are professionals; they know what to do.”
He added, “We don’t harass people, we don’t intimidate people, and whenever we make arrests, we do so professionally.”
The commission’s position is straightforward: businesses should not have to depend on criminal proceeds to survive.
The reality, however, is that the crackdown is exposing how deeply questionable money may have entered parts of Ado-Ekiti’s commercial ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the young men at the centre of the crackdown are making their own calculations.
Some are reportedly selling cars at distress prices, abandoning rented apartments and moving to neighbouring states. A report quoted the case of one young man in Ado-Ekiti who reportedly put a N15 million car up for sale for less than a quarter of its value because he wanted quick money to leave the state.
For the young men involved, the message from the EFCC appears to be that Ekiti is no longer a safe environment for the kind of lifestyle that had become visible across the city.
For legitimate businesses, however, the challenge is how to survive the transition.
Hotels will need to attract tourists, corporate travellers, government and private-sector events. Restaurants will have to compete on food quality and affordability. Lounges may need to build a broader customer base around professionals, families, students and visitors. Entertainment businesses will have to find ways of making money without depending on a handful of wealthy young men.
There is also a larger social question.
If the disappearance of suspected Yahoo boys can empty hotels, lounges, supermarkets and restaurants within weeks, then Ekiti’s economy has been exposed to a dangerous dependency.
As Ojudu put it, “The empty hotels and deserted lounges may represent temporary economic pain.”
But he warned that the bigger problem was moral.
“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.”
That may ultimately be the real story behind the EFCC’s arrival in Ekiti.
For now, however, the once-busy nights are quieter, the luxury cars are fewer, and many businesses are waiting for the customers who may never return.
By Benprince Ezeh
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