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Cybercrime and Ritualism: the Menace of “Yahoo Boys” 

and the Demonization of Traditional Igbo Religion and 

Society 

 

By Francis Chuks Madukasi 

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Abstract 

In Nigerian context, “Yahoo” means cybercrime committed by obtaining money on 

false pretense through the internet. Today, the trend is that these swindlers have 

switched over to the use of rituals in traditional African way in order to make the 

potency of their evil acts to work effectively, thereby implicating Traditional Religion 

as satanic. This paper x-rays the subsisting tendency by some of the youths of 

nowadays, particularly among the Igbo of Nigeria, to manipulate every spiritual force 

within the Traditional African cosmological field of communication to aid them in 

making quick money. They exploit the polar powers that reside in Ekwensu, a spirit 

being in Igbo belief system that corresponds to Christendom’s Satan or Devil, while 

ignoring the positive/punitive role accorded to this being in Traditional Religion.  For 

the Igbo, Ekwensu represents evil spiritual elements that function as agents of social 

control. The deployment of demonic forces by “Yahoo Boys” to rip off people should 

not be misinterpreted as traditional acts of Ekwensu. On the contrary, this paper declares 

that Ekwensu, the satanic persona within the Igbo realm of cosmological 

communication, is fundamentally conceptualized as such based on his social control 

roles. The paper goes further to support the notion of Ekwensu as Satan in terms of his 

forms, status, and roles in the society, conceptualizing Ekwensu, in direct opposition to 

the Supreme God, as the main malevolent spiritual agent in Igbo cosmology with 

defined roles. Ekwensu, not Traditional Religion, is the sole author of all negative 

actions of the Yahoo boys. 

Keywords: cybercrime, Satan, Ekwensu, “Yahoo Boys”, Igbo, Traditional Religion 

 

 

Introduction 

One of the perennial concerns of human beings is the need for peace, 

prosperity, and harmony in society, where people can truly fulfill their 

God-given mission in life. In other words, there is a human desire for an 



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environment, where life can be honestly celebrated in its fullness even 

while waiting its final consummation. The African traditional believer in 

his search for the realization of such a noble aim and desire has often 

identified ritualism/sacrifice as a societal, interpersonal, human and 

cosmic act. 

Ritualism and sacrifice are important to any religion, particularly Igbo 

traditional religion. In every Igbo community, ritualism and sacrifice are 

used as means for the individual or society to commune with spiritual 

beings. In Igbo traditional society, we believe these beings have power to 

sustain and destroy; a good reciprocal relationship with them is beneficial 

to man. Rituals and Sacrifice are also used to counteract the powers of 

destruction and evil spirits.  

However, in recent times a new nomenclature of ritualism has been 

associated with a crop of young ones popularly known as the “Yahoo 

boys” who have changed the narrative of rituals into a new concept that 

is linked with all kinds of unholy and criminal paraphernalia. Thus, 

during one Christmas Holiday in one Igbo community, this researcher 

witnessed a lot of unholy practices by “Yahoo boys”, such as ritual of 

bathing in the river, sleeping in the burial ground, among others. One 

day, the researcher was going to the market and observed a man being 

dragged by youths to the market square. His name was Obi. It was said 

that Obi buried his female worker alive. When the spot in the shop was 

opened, the girl was still alive but body parts like breast, finger nails and 

heads were found on the spot. Obi was a ritualist or a “Yahoo boy”. By 

engaging in evil acts of this nature, these “Yahoo boys” have 

misrepresented the Igbo traditional religion as satanic. These desperate 

youths are bent on using ritualism, which they now tag “Yahoo Plus”, to 

get quick cash thereby making the original Igbo traditional religion to 

look evil and demonic.  

The evil side of it is that this “Yahoo Plus” is all about using human 

beings for rituals; either they cut off some private parts or they make the 

person run mad, thereby using the Igbo traditional religion to achieve 

their ungodly ends. The implication of this is that it will lead to the 

misinterpretation of the true purpose of African traditional religion. For 

the Igbo, it will cause an ethical degrading of the people of Igbo land in 

the sense that other neighbouring tribes will view Igbo land as a place 

where ritual killing, criminality and crooked pursuit of money are 

rampant.    

 



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The Notion of Cybercrime (“Yahoo-Yahoo”) 

Cybercrime is not an old sort of crime to the world. It is defined as any 

criminal activity which takes place on or over the medium of computers 

or internet or other technology recognized by the Information 

Technology Act (Okeke, 2010). According to Chukwujekwu (2019), 

insecurity in today‘s digital space is very alarming. Many people, 

especially the youths, are getting involved day by day. They are 

participating actively in one form of internet fraud or the other; this is 

generally known in cyberspace as cybercrime, but referred to, in Nigerian 

parlance, as “Yahoo Yahoo” (p. 20). Cybercrime is the most prevalent 

crime playing a devastating role in Igbo traditional society. The cyber 

criminals are causing enormous losses to the society and the government 

and are also able to conceal their identity to a great extent. 

There are numbers of illegal activities which are committed over the 

internet by technically skilled criminals. Taking a wider interpretation, it 

can be said that cybercrime includes any illegal activity where computer 

or internet is either a tool or target or both (Maduka, 2020). Cyber 

criminals are made up of mainly young school leavers and 

undergraduates. They are technology savvy and love smart electronic 

gadgets. They are pathological internet addicts and particularly obsessed 

with the social media. They live extravagant lifestyle and hang out in 

clubs. They are usually fun-seekers and chronic adventurers. They belong 

to two categories of cyber café users that have been described as deviant 

routine users and deviant very important (VIP) users (Ndubueze, 2018). 

 

The Idea of Ritualism and “yahoo-plus” in Igbo Land  

The notion of “Yahoo-yahoo” has become a critical case in our 

contemporary Igbo society especially among the youths. In Igbo land, 

“yahoo-plus” is the use of rituals and other traditional rites to enhance 

money-making cyber criminal activities. It can be said that “yahoo-plus” 

is when a “Yahoo-boy” adds anything spiritual to yahoo-yahoo. It is 

almost impossible to scam anyone without the ritualism or spiritual 

influence because victims are getting wiser and more familiar with their 

strategies. According to Onuorah (2019), “yahoo-plus” is when a 

“Yahoo-boy” adds charm to yahoo-yahoo so that he will be getting many 

victims and plenty of money. Nowadays, young boys are driving 

expensive big cars because of “yahoo-plus”. It helps them to have the 

kind of money that their parent cannot give them; the bad thing is that 



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they usually die a painful death. For example, one “Yahoo-boy” bought a 

new sports car, but as he was driving recklessly and drinking at the same 

time, he had an accident and died.  

Corroborating the above, Ugwu (2018) posited that: 

Baba the hustle is real, if you no add something, na you go carry last 

(don’t add any spiritual ingredient, you won’t get anything). Without any 

help, you can’t collect one dollar from a client. Let’s stop deceiving 

ourselves everybody you see wey dey make am dey add small jazz (that is 

making progress in his work is adding a little of voodoo). It is only a 

foolish “Yahoo-boy” that will be wasting his strength trying to scam a 

client without spiritual help. Only the person that has added ritualism (has 

added voodoo) will successfully win a client heart without stress. (p. 18) 

The use of ritualism is now rampant and hardly can you find a yahoo boy 

that has not added one spiritual ingredient or the other. This finding 

correlates with the work of Okolie (2018) which states that “internet 

fraudsters are drifting into fusing spirituality with cybercrime to become 

successful”. He explained that it is difficult for yahoo boys to thrive 

without the addition of spiritual ingredients. Mba (2019) explained that 

doing ritual is more than going to the native doctor as widely assumed by 

members of the society: 

Anything you add to improve yahoo-yahoo in order to improve your 

chance of getting a client is “yahoo-plus”. Whether you go to the native 

doctor or church or mosque or you go to India, or China, so far you have 

added something spiritual, it is “yahoo-plus”. “yahoo-plus” is not as bad 

as people paint it and it is not limited to the spiritual influence of a native 

doctor (Eze, 2017) 

In Umukara Uzinomi the people opined that “yahoo-plus” mean the 

addition of any spiritual ingredient and engagement in spiritual activities 

for the purpose of boosting the chances of a yahoo boy in getting a client 

online and successfully defrauding the client. Also, for an individual to 

practice “yahoo-plus”, he or she must be a “Yahoo-boy” or yahoo girl. 

Therefore, yahoo plus can be referred to as the advancement of yahoo-

yahoo to the spiritual level. In differentiating “yahoo-plus” from yahoo-

yahoo, in a personal conversation, a respondent stated that: 

You cannot differentiate between yahoo and yahoo plus by checking their 

body (mere looking for signs). It is not as if yahoo plus guys (yahoo boys) 

involved in yahoo plus are going around putting on rings and you can’t 

conclude that everyone putting on ring is a doing bubble-plus (involved in 

yahoo plus), none of them do carry calabash around; some, you can’t 

even find “ju-ju” (anything fetish in their home) and most of them don’t 

have incisions on their body. The only way to differentiate is the level of 

their money, cars and mouth (wealth accumulation), their influence and 

the rate at which they are paid by their “maga”. 



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The difference between yahoo-yahoo and “yahoo-plus” can be 

determined by the level of wealth accumulation by those practising either 

of them; majority of the respondents reported that the era of rings and 

incisions are long gone and people have advanced. In fact, one can 

hardly, physically, distinguish a Yahoo-boy practising ordinary yahoo-

yahoo from those practising yahoo plus except through their financial 

status and their influence in the society. Timothy (2013) states that the 

dwindling fortunes of yahoo-boys in getting victims due to the increase 

in awareness of some of their strategies by the police officers and cyber 

security operatives have pushed many of them to seeking spiritual help.  

Theoretical Framework 

This work revolves around Ronald Akers’ theory of Social Structure and 

Social Learning Model. The model states that people develop motivation 

to commit crime through the people whom they associate with. It 

generally assumes that individuals learn criminal behaviour the way they 

learn other behaviours in the society. Learning, Akers noted, is a part of 

life that is inevitable in as much as people interact with others in the 

society. Unlike other social learning theorists, such as Bandura and 

Edwin Sutherland, Ronald Akers’ Social learning theory combines and 

considers both psychological and sociological predictors of learning in 

arriving at the factors predisposing individuals to the learning of criminal 

behaviour (Lee, Akers & Borg, 2004; Akers, 2009). For instance, Akers 

borrowed from Burrhus Frederic Skinner’s Behaviourism, Bandura’s 

Imitation theory, Alfred Schutz’s Social phenomenology, Edwin 

Sutherland’s Differential Association theory and Economics’ Rational 

Choice theory, to conclude that the learning of criminal behaviour is a 

product of operant conditioning, imitation, bonding, and reinforcement 

(positive and negative) that go on in our everyday world (Akers, Krohn, 

Lanza-Kaduce & Radosevich, (1979); Akers, 1990; Holt, Burruss, 

Bossler & Adam, (2012). 

 

Factors Promulgating Youths’ Involvement in Yahoo-yahoo In Igbo 

land 

There are two factors promulgating youths’ involvement in yahoo-yahoo 

in Igbo land. The first is the combination of unemployment and poverty; 

the second factor is peer group influence. Other factors are believed to be 

entertainment industry; Igbo political, cultural and economic history; the 

relative acceptance of yahoo-yahoo in Igbo society; the anonymity and 



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distance from the victims the internet provides; the minor chances of 

being arrested by the police; easy access to online platforms; the 

availability of e-mail extractor software; and, lack of knowledge of the 

grave consequences of internet crime. 

Unemployment and Poverty 

Between 1960 and 2004, the poverty rate in Nigeria increased from 15% 

to 54.4% (Tade and Aliyu, 2014). By 2010, it was estimated that 70% of 

the population lived below the poverty line (Oshewolo, 2010). 

Unemployment rate stood at 23.9% in 2011 (ibid), but increased to over 

50% if youth only are counted (Oshewolo, 2010). The fear of 

unemployment was mentioned as a crucial factor leading to the growth of 

yahoo-yahoo (Adeniran, 2018; Adomi and Igun, 2018; Tade and Aliyu, 

2019). Due to the prevailing economic hardship bedeviling the country, 

many youths take solace in yahoo-yahoo as it is regarded as a way of 

keeping body and soul together just like any other economic endeavor 

(Balancing Act New Update, 2003). Yahoo-yahoo may not be separated 

from prevailing kleptomania problem that characterizes the Nigerian 

system (Ojedokun and Eraye, 2012). As noted by Awe (2010), even 

though criminal activities cannot be justified for any reason, with the 

prevailing economic conditions individuals may be forced to find 

alternatives in yahoo-yahoo. 

Peer group influence 

The phrases “my friend has this; I want to get it as well”, “My friend is 

doing this; I want to do it as well”, “My friend has achieved this, I want 

to do it as well” represent a desire “to want to belong” often expressed 

among youths; this resonates with Tade and Aliyu (2018) research. 

Commanding respects from their peers, attracting the opposite sex and 

extravagant lifestyle seem to be the major goals for many Yahoo boys. 

Looking at the age bracket, this behavior is perhaps not surprising when 

other aspects of their lives and the society around them are considered 

(Doppelmayr, 2019). He further posited that even if a young person is not 

already in a group of yahoo-yahoo boys, the youths’ culture around him 

could be of influence. 

Entertainment industry  

Another worrisome trend is the rate at which entertainment and music 

industry normalize yahoo-yahoo and “yahoo-plus”. These musical acts, 

DJs and night club hypemen encourage and energize youths to make 

them believe that internet fraud is the only way they can get rich, drive 

big cars and enjoy life. 



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The social environment breeding Yahoo-yahoo in Igbo land 

Decades of corruption, poverty, and unemployment has created the 

acceptance of the practice of yahoo as a viable source of income amongst 

some Igbo youths; hence, wealth is glorified and questions of how it was 

gotten are often not asked (Ozo, 2019). In some cases, yahoo-boys are 

perceived as legitimate business persons and/or persons who can pay a 

premium for goods and services (Ikobi, 2018). 

Faceless nature of the Internet and its impact on the growth of 

yahoo-yahoo 

The internet is characterized by facelessness (Ikem, 2018). This ensures 

the total possibility of having unhindered access to information 

communication without government or internet service provider (ISP) 

interference. It allows users to cover their own identity and engage in 

spam and in sending unsolicited messages. The faceless nature of the 

internet allows free exchange of criminal information and activities 

without attacks from government or employees (Ikem, 2018). In the view 

of Okeke (2020), there are three major features of the internet which 

combine to turbo charge, accelerate and intensify online fraud. These are; 

access, affordability, and anonymity. They are jointly referred to as the 

“Triple A Engine”. The internet is reputed as the world’s largest 

computer network with an estimated 1.1 billion users. Today, virtually 

anyone can access the internet with a telephone line, a computer, and a 

modem. As such, internet technology has created a new form of 

criminality, that is, cybercrime. It is very much easy for individuals to 

have access to a computer without leaving home, that is telecommuting, 

and to engage in hacking and related electronic frauds without leaving a 

trace. Yahoo boys mostly capitalize on the anonymity offered by the 

internet to carry out their nefarious activities. 

Inadequate Law Enforcement 

The regulating enactment against cyber offences is not sufficient in itself 

without proper measures of enactment and implementation; this 

represents the chronicle of the Igbo society in regulating cyber offences 

(Okafor, 2018). This situation normally encourages criminals to 

perpetrate illicit acts (Ojekodun and Eraye, 2012). Studies report that 

yahoo boys are generally not worried about the police because they can 

bribe their way out when arrested (Anikwe, 2019). The deficiencies in 

the implementation of regulating acts continue to serve as a bane to the 

progress recorded in the fight against cybercrime in Igbo land and 

Nigeria at large. 



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Ease of Access to the Internet 

The easy access to the internet and technology provided by internet and 

hypertext afford users with fast links to individuals (Morah, 2018). “The 

ease and convenience associated with IT and the Internet is now being 

exploited to serve criminal purposes” (Adomi, 2008). The internet is fast 

turning into a household thing for Igbo societies and Nigerians at large 

(Adomi, 2015). This ease of access to the internet is now being utilized to 

carry out criminal activities. 

Ignorance of the gravity of breaking Internet law 

Roberts (2017) opined that so many people underplay the severity of 

cyber offences. They treat it as if it is not as serious as offences 

committed in the “physical space” even though its impact could be far 

reaching in most cases. Also, the distance between the perpetrators and 

the victims means that they often are ignorant of the consequences of 

their crimes and tend to underestimate its impact.  

Societal decadence and its impact on Nigerian youths’ involvement in 

Yahoo-yahoo 

Nigeria as a nation is a well gifted country, considering her human and 

natural resources among the nations of the world. Unfortunately, the 

country is ranked among the underdeveloped nations of the world with 

declining human conditions over the years (Adeniran, 2008). 

“Unemployment, lack of social support and worsening extent of general 

deprivation has affected the youths in the country. The political, 

economic, education and other social institutions, reflect varying degrees 

of decadence caused by fraudulent acts in Nigeria” (Bammeke, 2005). As 

opined by Achebe (1984), Nigeria was regarded as one of the most 

corrupt places in the world due to political recklessness. Years after this, 

this opinion is still being re-emphasized by the yearly Corruption 

Perception Index of the Transparency International in which Nigeria has 

been occupying one of the lowest positions in Africa and in the world. As 

it is, Nigeria has been noted to be in a state of ‘normlessness’, where 

anything goes; there is a breakdown of law and order and people no 

longer feel remorse for evil committed; shameful acts are celebrated and 

success is given a new definition, as wealth becomes more important 

than the means of obtaining it (Tade and Olaitan, 2015). Sudden wealth 

is normally celebrated among Nigerians regardless of its source. In fact, 

it is mostly associated with cleverness and no punishment is melted out 

where necessary (Adeniran, 2008). 

Indeed, ours is a society that glorifies wealth. This attitude of glorifying 



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wealth by the Nigerian society is further buttressed by the lifestyles of 

the so called ‘celebrities’. Popular Nigerian hip- hop songs such as 

“Maga don Pay” and “Operation” all glorify the Yahoo boys’ lifestyle 

(Zulu, 2008). Also, music videos produced by artists such as Olu 

Maintain and Kelly Handsome show them driving exotic cars, drinking 

champagne, partying with young women and displaying large amounts of 

money. The general themes in both the lyrics and the music videos are 

the positive benefits which serve as inducements to become a yahoo boy 

(Doppelmayr, 2013:19). 

In Nigeria, kleptomania acts are not characteristics of only the ruling 

class but of leadership at all levels; in this kind of situation, values of 

integrity and honesty are scorned, as there is lack of compliance to laid 

down procedures (Bammeke, 2005). “For instance, at both household and 

community levels in Nigeria, respective agents of socialization taught the 

young ones to value hard work and integrity, but most often it is at 

variance with what they observe” (Adeniran, 2008:371). Technological 

advances, especially in information and communication technology, 

however, have brought major alterations to our cultures, our patterns of 

socialization, our social institutions, and our day-to-day social 

interactions. Such technological innovations are, in fact, being accepted 

with remarkable speed by the Nigerian youths, hitherto grossly 

unengaged at both social and economic spheres. As noted by Adeniran 

(2006), the internet has brought an astounding alteration in the behavioral 

patterns of Nigerian Youths. Indeed, Yahoo boys sub-culture has 

emerged from the consensual acceptance of the internet technology, 

especially among youths in the country. Though criminality among 

youths in Nigeria could be traced to the prevalent corrupt practices in the 

country, the ‘modernization of criminality’ through the electronic 

superhighway has been serving as the platform for the emergence and 

sustenance of Yahoo boys sub-culture in Nigeria (Adeniran, 2008). 

Ordinarily, Nigerian youths are noted for being idealistic, adventurous, 

resourceful, inquisitive and proactive (Adalemo, 1999). In the face of 

proper motivation, the Nigerian youth is prepared to contribute to the 

development of the nation (Mabogunje, 1998). According to Adeniyi 

(1999), since the youths are taken as the foundation for the future growth 

and sustainable development of a nation, they are the key agents for 

social change, economic development and technological innovation. 

Hence, the failure of leadership at all levels in Nigeria to promote 

positive values for the youths has often translated into social 

incongruence. Every society has norms that define acceptable behavior, 

and agents of socialization socially transmit such norms; but it becomes 



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an issue when there is a discrepancy between what is taught and what is 

being observed. How do we expect the Nigerian youths to eschew fraud 

when all they see around them is fraudulent individuals wielding so much 

affluence and still command high respect from the society that is 

supposed to question the source of their wealth? Ninalowo (2004) argues 

that in society such as Nigeria with gross structural inequalities, weak 

sanctioning system and wide gap between the “haves” and the “have-

nots”, there is a tendency for the deprived to reject and embrace illegal 

means of achieving culturally prescribed goals. The involvement of 

Nigerian youths in online fraudulent practices such as yahoo-yahoo, 

therefore, cannot be divorced from the value that the society places on 

wealth accumulation (Adeniran, 2008). 

Traditional view on Ritualism and Yahoo boys in Igbo Land 

In Igbo land, many young lads have opted for cybercrime in their 

desperation to join the ranks of scores of their compatriots who have 

been making millions of dollars out of online-scams. Young Nigerian 

scammers known as ‘yahoo boys’ are resorting to the use of traditional 

charms and mystical powers to charm potential victims into their scams. 

In the traditional African religion, “Yahoo” has never been an approved 

source of income for young lads, thus the issue of yahoo has caused a 

great havoc in traditional African religion whereby yahoo boys are now 

using the ritual rites and sacrifice that should be meant for good in doing 

evil and the results keep coming. Thus, the use of rituals (voodoo and 

charms) for spiritual protection and to charm potential victims is very 

common among Yahoo Boys in Umukara.   

There is now another level in the use of charms, which is known as 

Yahoo Plus -Plus, which “involves the use of human parts and may need 

kidnapping other human beings for rituals, which is not necessary in 

‘‘Yahoo Plus.’’ Yahoo Plus Plus involves the use of things such as 

“victims finger nails, rings, carrying of corpses, making incision on their 

body, sleeping in the cemetery, citing of incantation, using of their 

fingers for rituals, and having sex with ghosts are common” (Nwakwudo, 

2011) 

Thus, the traditional view of ritualism and its use by yahoo boys in 

Umukara shows that yahoo has moved beyond just scamming people 

ordinarily/physically; it now connotes spirituality and using various 

means like sacrifice, performing of various rites and rituals etc. in order 

to victimize people and make them fall prey. 

The  spiritual  dimension  to  yahoo  is  a  paradigmatic  shift  from  the  



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popular  yahoo which  relies  solely  on  Internet  dexterity  to  victimize 

people.  However,  the  blending  of  the  spiritual  with cybercrime  

reveals  the  innovative  capabilities  of  cybercriminals  in  this  study  

area. Since materialism seems to be cherished within Nigerian society, 

young people appear to have imbibed this social value by designing 

strategies of accomplishing the set task. Repressed in the physical space, 

yahoo boys migrate to cyberspace to perpetrate criminality. The  delayed  

success  rate  in  “yahoo” practice,  the  untiring  clampdown  of  the  

Economic  and  Financial  Crimes  Commission  on  cybercriminals,  

group  rivalry  and  the  activities  of  the  media  in  enlightening  the  

public  accounted  for  the  search  for  a  more  speedy  way  of  

increasing  cybercrime  victimization. The frustrated yahoo boys 

innovated and imported the spiritual elements into cybercrime leading to 

the emergence of yahoo plus. This group relies on the  spiritual  capital  

(Nwokolo, 2019)  of  herbalists,  fetish  pastors  and  alfas. Yahoo plus 

fraudsters approach fetish pastors, alfas, and herbalists for success-

promoting charms. 

 

Some Ways Yahoo Boys use People for Rituals in Igbo Land 

Via Gifts 

In Igbo Land, it is worth noting that most yahoo boys use gifts in using 

people for ritual. From a personal experience, my sister’s classmate was 

used for money ritual by her boy friend by giving her lots of gift items. 

Thus, they usually put whatever evil in it and when they use these gifts, it 

will spiritually attack you. Now, this is a change of life. For example, 

they buy their parents a car, using these cars might bring about the early 

death of their parent. It could even be their siblings. There was the case 

of a chief in Umukara that his son gave a car and within two days the 

man had accident with the car and died. 

By Using Girls Material 

In Umukara Yahoo boys use girls private wears especially their pants. 

This has been so rampart in recent times. After using these materials 

belonging to girls they either go mad or bleed to death. Most of the time, 

what they do is tear a little part of it unknowingly to these girls and 

whenever they use it, they are affected. This information should make 

girls wise and make them to avoid such boys. There is the case of my 

primary school classmate in the village who gave me firsthand 

information about the death of her sister; she said her sister was used for 

ritual by her boyfriend who secretly took her underwear and used it for 



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rituals. 

Through Partying 

It is said that when a yahoo boy is organizing a party and he is not eating 

or drinking, just know he is taking people’s destiny via the food and 

drinks. Yahoo boys are fond of throwing parties and letting people eat 

such food while they reserve ‘uncontaminated’ drink for themselves. A 

concrete example is the case of someone in Umukara; he attended a party 

of a rich young dude suspected to be a yahoo guy and after the party his 

destiny never remained the same; things became hard for him and out of 

frustration he committed suicide.  

Via Cash 

In Umukara Uzinomi, it is popularly known that some of these yahoo-

boys have special money given to them and when they mix the money 

with others and give it to you, using this money will initiate you 

spiritually. 

 

The intention of ritualism and the people’s belief in ritual practices  

According to one Mr. Ugo with whom I discussed this issue, “ritual 

practice permeates all religion and the intention differs from religion to 

religion and from persons to person. Majorly, the intention for rituals 

especially the one that involves blood sacrifice in Africa religion ranges 

from power, wealth, and protection". He further adds that all religion 

perform ritual practice which includes Igbo traditional religion. You must 

understand that ritual practices don’t limit itself to animal blood sacrifice 

or human sacrifice.  Kola nut breaking in Igbo land, pouring of libation in 

Igbo land is ritual. There is scarcely documented evidence to show that in 

Igbo traditional religion. If the hypothesis that Ndi-Igbo emigrated from 

ancient Israel is anything to go by, then ritual involving human sacrifice 

couldn't have been original with Igbo traditional religion. Traces of 

rituals involving human sacrifice for power, wealth, or protection is an 

importation from neighbouring cultures.  

According to Mazi Uwakwe, rituals are part of Igbo tradition but not 

ones involving human blood. Civilizations have made it possible that 

animals are sacrificed to the gods and not human beings. The notion of 

ritualism in Igbo tradition has been misinterpreted wrongly by the evil 

representative of Igbo tradition (native doctor or dibia). There are good 

native doctors in our community and killing human beings is not part of 

our culture.  



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According to Mazi Maduka, a true native doctor who knows what he is 

doing cannot ask anybody to come for money ritual. After all, the person 

that is asking for money ritual, why is it that he didn't do it himself to 

become rich? Why can't a dibia kill to make money himself? These 

native doctors aid the yahoo boys to paint our tradition black. The gods 

frown at injustice and so at the end there's always a repercussion for 

those actions. Rituals help us to commune with the gods.  

 

Effects of Ritualism and Yahoo boys in Igbo Land  

The issue of ritualism and Yahoo boys cannot be over emphasized in 

Umukara Uzinomi, thus, the resultant effect of the activities of Yahoo 

boys in Umukara Uzinomi has made Nwakwudo (2020) to buttress that: 

“Yahoo is a get rich quick scheme where people obtain money online 

from others by false pretence. Thus, anything that has an advantage 

surely has a disadvantage”  

We always have ourselves to blame when we make mistakes out of 

ignorance and have ourselves to blame for it. Life is more precious than 

Gold, it's more precious than silver and certainly more precious than 

money. Hence, yahoo boys go for rituals. There are times situation 

pushes us to make irrational decisions, there are times desperation hits 

the mind with evil options and alternatives. However, these ought to be 

the time where an individual discern and evaluate his options completely. 

Being a ritualist or getting involved into ritual as a man or a woman is 

indeed seen as an evil act. More so, the original meaning of ritual isn't 

about blood sharing, it's more like rites, a repeated procedure. However, 

in the African mindset and mentality it's a total form of blood sacrifices, 

a rite that involves some sort of blood initiations, connecting the human 

world to the spirit. All these form of rituals, yahoo boys get involved for 

money sake. They have consequences; though ritualism in the sense of 

African traditional religion is not evil rather it’s a means of performing 

rites and sacrifices to the gods by a traditional worshipper. Nevertheless 

the involvement of yahoo boys in rituals has opted to display that 

ritualism is an evil act since it’s used for evil and not for good.  

The following are the consequences of ritualism engaged in by Yahoo 

boys:  

Lack of respect: When one starts doing Yahoo in Umukara Uzinomi and 

people get to know about it, the person will lose his respect in Umukara 



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Uzinomi. Generally, people will not value him that much; they will have 

one or two bad things to say about the person. Although minority of girls 

today are looking for Yahoo boys to date, but to the people of Umukara 

Uzinomi you are just another lazy youth living off the earning of other 

people. Even when you eventually make the money and purchase a nice 

house or cars, there are some people that won't give you that respect. 

Eventually if anybody respects you it's because of the money. 

Higher risk of going to jail: The effect and consequences of yahoo also 

focus on the fact that they stand a chance of jail sentence. Today, Yahoo 

boys are faced with constant attack by tech gurus working with the EFCC 

and other security agencies. Due to the knowledge of online scamming, 

and the means they take, companies that produce applications yahoo boys 

use are now creating new ways to locate these guys, and block them out. 

The EFCC especially has taken the issue of online scamming very 

serious as Nigerian citizens and Westerners have lost over $3 billion 

dollars to Yahoo boys. Nevertheless, the Nigerian police have developed 

the habit of searching people's phones and laptops without warrant. With 

the same velocity, Nigerian security agencies are doing their best to tame 

yahoo boys. Thus, the yahoo boys stand a chance of being jailed when 

arrested. 

Taking hard drug: Yahoo boys consume large quantities of cocaine, 

cigarette, marijuana, etc. which are dangerous to health. Those hard 

drugs they take make them become insane and easily become angry in 

hurting their fellow human beings. Hence it is a known fact that such 

events also take place in Umukara and Imo State in general. Furthermore, 

the yahoo boys are mostly addicted to bad habits such as taking of hard 

drugs which make them “high”. 

Generational Curses: There is an African adage that says “what goes 

around comes around”; thus, what a yahoo boy might think he is 

enjoying right now might become a future generational curse to him and 

his lineage; it is clear that we live in a spiritual world. What goes around 

comes around. In Umukara, it is a notable fact that when a young lad gets 

involved in any form of ritual as a yahoo boy, which involves blood 

sacrifices, there are generational curses tied to it. Thus, the deity or gods 

of Umukara will always come to punish the young lad or by extension 

will punish his family. 

Life Span Reduction: “Yahoo” (crime) itself is a sin and a crime in 

almost all religions. It is so in all villages, especially in Umukara, hence 

it is totally preached against and frowned at as well. Thus, in Christianity 

the word of God made it clear that, the soul that "Sinneth" shall die. 



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39 
 

When you get involved into yahoo, the rituals as a yahoo boy, you 

automatically reduce your life span. There is no two ways about it. You 

can cause someone death by your actions and stay long to enjoy it. God is 

a just God, and nature must run its full course. 

Negative Influence: Immediately one starts doing “Yahoo”, he will 

definitely have new friends who will persuade him into doing things he 

didn't want to do. If the (friends) didn't turn him to a smoker they will 

turn him into drinking alcoholic drinks from there, they may turn him 

into a ritualist all in the name of doubling or tripling your hustle and 

before he realizes it, he has become a member of a cult group. Good 

friends don't influence you negatively, they give you the best advice but 

yahoo boyfriends will talk them into doing evil deeds to make quick 

money. 

Adamant Children: Most yahoo boys think of the now and forget about 

the resultant effect of their action. Most times when they get married and 

have kids the effect of their past will start playing in the lives of their 

children in the sense that their kids will not listen to them, basically 

because the deity or gods of the land is working against them to frustrate 

them. The reason for this is because the yahoo boys dined with the devil, 

they fed him blood via rituals and he must collect his price. 

Early Loss of Loved Ones: Getting involved in rituals or becoming 

ritualists has made most “Yahoo Boys” to lose loved ones. According to 

an interview granted by Chief Nweze, a chieftain in Umukara village, 

many yahoo boys have lost their loved ones because of various curses 

and rituals performed on them by their victims; sometimes, the curses 

will start with their loved ones in order to destroy their joy and family 

before hitting on them. Though in most cases the death of their loved 

ones might not be the intentions of yahoo boys, but it's happening 

without their permission or consent. In another sense some lose their 

loved ones because they mistakenly or intentionally sacrifice their loved 

ones at the altar of native doctors or ritualist and that is what the devil, 

native doctors and ritualists are known for. Once they give a little, they 

take in plenty, and you have no right and control over it because you 

have washed your hands with blood or dined with the devil. 

In addition, Yahoo boys don’t care to kill their dad, mum, sister, brother 

or even their girlfriend for ritual in order to get money. If killing their 

close relative is not necessary, they would make sure they kill another 

person for ritual. They can take the child who is returning/going to school 

or errand. There has been a notable case of missing children at Umukara, 

and accusations have been leveled upon yahoo boys as suspects, and the 



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brain behind the missing children. According to Chief Nweze, a chieftain 

and a cabinet member of the king of Umukara, many youths in Umukara 

have resorted to killing of their parents and siblings for the sake of 

“yahoo-plus”. He claimed that some succeeded while others did not.  

You Might run Mad: Although the sweetness of yahoo is that the result 

is mostly quick but the after effect is terrible and unbearable. Though 

they might be enjoying all the money and cars at the moment, and 

enjoying the yahoo boy names they give themselves, but they might end 

up running mad. This happens in three ways, according to one Nwachi 

whom I interviewed: “It’s either you run mad when the herbalist, Juju 

man or dibia dies or you run mad when your secret is being exposed. You 

might also run mad when you don't meet up to the task.” 

They can be killed: After past fraud they had committed are traced to 

them, “Yahoo Boys” can be killed or prosecuted. Sometimes, their 

properties are seized. Most Yahoo boys have died mysteriously because 

of few years of pleasure, some died because they can no longer fulfill the 

demands of the ritualist or negative doctor, while others were killed by 

those the defrauded. 

No Peace of Mind: The Christian holy Bible says “no sinner will go on 

punished” therefore yahoo boys barely have peace of mind, even with 

themselves. The fact remains since yahoo is an illegal business or act the 

yahoo boys are always scared of being caught or being in trouble. 

In Umukara there is a scenario where one yahoo boy was walking on the 

road with his mobile phone (wherein all his working tools/Applications 

are), and out of nowhere, the SARS approached him for questioning then 

he began to shiver and that was how they caught him.  

In a interview with me, Mr. Chris Ilodibe maintained that: “Being a 

yahoo boy robs you of that satisfaction, because stealing and lying to 

make riches is a criminal offence and as such any citizen found wanting 

is an irresponsible citizen even when such a person may not realize it.” 

 

Solutions to the Problem of Ritualism and Yahoo boys in Igbo Land 

Job availability: It is no longer news that Nigerian is one of the 

countries that have the highest rate of unemployment in the world. 

Currently, lack of Jobs is one of the main reasons why Nigerian youths 

go into Yahoo business although it is not good reason because there are 

not the only ones. There are millions of Nigerian youths that create jobs 

for themselves without waiting for the government to help them with jobs 



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or any benefits from the government. If the government can help the 

youth by providing jobs the issue of Yahoo will definitely reduce. 

Prosecution by Law Enforcement Agencies: The government should 

see the Yahoo epidemic as a national emergency, the same way it sees 

religious extremism and banditry. They should persecute the Yahoo boys 

or girls that are caught in the act; this will reduce the rate of Yahoo boys 

and girls in the country because they won't want to end in jail. The 

government should increase the rate of EFCC arrests so that it will teach 

other people especially those who are about enjoining the business a 

good lesson. Narrowing it down to Umukara, the village king and cabinet 

should set up laws that will prohibit yahoo boys from operating freely 

probably using their local vigilant groups to monitor the movement of 

suspected yahoo boys. 

Parental Training: In our society today, some negative behaviors 

children exhibit are the product of what was taught them by their parents. 

Therefore in this issues of Yahoo boys and ritualism, parents should train 

their children in the fear of the Lord so that they won't get involved in 

illegal things, especially reaping where one did not show which is 

stealing from someone else’s resources. Thus, in Umukara families 

should help in teaching their children about the ethics of the lands and the 

fear of God should be inculcated in them; with these, good morals will 

easily be imbibed in the lives of the youths in Umukara. According to 

one Mr. Kelechi who spoke to me, “When a child who just graduated and 

has no job, yet comes back home driving a car… It is the responsibility 

of the parents to ask questions regarding sudden wealth before accepting 

him. Your child can not come home with an exotic car and you celebrate 

with him instead of asking about the source of the wealth. Parents who 

fail to ask question are collaborating with evil. So, parents should be 

blamed for failing in their responsibilities.” 

Organizing of enlightenment programmes: In today`s world, many 

youths are bent on making quick money; governments and NGOs should 

organize enlightenment programmes that will help to tackle the issue of 

yahoo and yahoo plus in this dispensation. Specifically, in Umukara the 

governing council of the village should help to motivate the young lads 

of the village and keep them busy with something educative and 

inspirational in order to shift their minds away from the menace of 

yahoo.  

Unfortunately, “Yahoo Plus” is not limited to male alone; ladies also 

have roles to perform. Ladies serves as catalyst to various charms due to 

their spiritual and physical nature. Ladies serve as partners to the yahoo-



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boys; they help the yahoo boys to pick calls, make video calls and 

manage their fake social media to make it look real. Importantly, ladies 

are also involved directly in yahoo-yahoo, especially the online romance 

scam. Public enlightenment programmes, therefore, should also cover 

young ladies. 

 

Conclusion 

This paper has submitted that the technique of “yahoo-plus” is more than 

the usage of charms and hypnotizing clients online. Due to the awareness 

of the activities of yahoo boys and their inability to successfully 

hypnotize the security operatives, yahoo plus now involves wide 

participation of highly skilled people and influential people who play 

important roles to ensure the smooth running of their fraudulent 

activities. These people include but are not limited to application and 

software developers, hackers, and pickers, gift card buyers and sellers 

and so on. It has been noted that the yahoo boys adopted the use of 

charms in order to exploit their victims perfectly without any trace. This 

has led to the misinterpretation of African traditional religion as satanic 

and evil, hence the affairs of yahoo-boys using charms and consulting 

various medium in order to make quick money has made African 

tradition religion to be seen as evil, whereas it is just a mere 

misinterpretation.   

 

 

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Author Information: Dr Francis Chuks Madukasi is a lecturer 

in the Department of Religion & Human Relations, 

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, 

Anambra State, Nigeria. Email: frankmakson@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


