Jude Bela: How Nigerian YouTuber Profiled As Yahoo Boy By EFCC Went From Grace to Grass

Jude Bela had just finished eating lunch with his pregnant wife one chilly afternoon in March 2019 when he received a two-minute phone call that would change the course of his life forever and bring him to his knees.

“Do you have any problem with anyone that might want to bring you down?” the caller whom Bela preferred to keep anonymous asked him. 

The caller went further “the EFCC is currently investigating you and all your bank accounts have been frozen. Banks have been instructed to inform the EFCC anytime you come into the banking hall and you will be arrested. They are coming after you.”

He was just a YouTuber taking advantage of the internet and mobile gadgets to create an escape route for himself out of Nigeria’s unemployment crisis. Through his YouTube channel he had opened one of the biggest supermarket stores in Tarkar located before Rail way area of Makurdi, the capital of Benue state in the north central part of Nigeria and had an ongoing building project, so why would the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission be after him? Bela thought.

Bela’s first instinct was that the caller had made a mistake. He believed he did not have a fight with anyone and he wasn’t engaged in fraudulent business so there was no reason for EFCC to be after him. He explained to the caller that he has lived a clean life and has not had any cause to run foul against the law. The son of a pastor, he prided himself as a model young man who was raised in the church and shunned social vices all his life.

Bela told Neusroom: “It did not make any sense to me. I assumed the person had made a mistake but just to be sure, I called the manager of my supermarket. He was always in the custody of my debit card because we were always needing cash to restock so it was easier for him to do the transactions. I called him and without informing him of the strange phone call I had gotten earlier, I asked him to make a cash withdrawal at an ATM close to the supermarket. He called me back in a few minutes that he tried several times but the cash withdrawal was unsuccessful. He also could not check the account balance or carry out any transaction.”

That was when panic set in and Jude realised that the caller who warned him a few minutes earlier may be right.

“I told my manager to close the supermarket and leave there immediately. I did not tell him what was wrong but I knew that based on what I know about the EFCC, they would want to take over the supermarket and probably even arrest him. Also, I did not want the manager to know what was going on yet until I had a full grasp of what was going on. But I was fairly confident that it was a case of mistaken identity and everything would be settled when the EFCC realised that I was a young successful Nigerian who was making money from Youtube and was diversifying with the money I was making. In some way, I was also on the verge of setting up a television station and had already employed eight people so I was the sort of young Nigerian the EFCC should be proud of.”

If Jude had known, he would have taken the situation seriously because three days after that phone call he would find himself locked up in an EFCC cell in Makurdi, Benue State in Northcentral Nigeria, with his properties (car, house, video-making tools) confiscated. It marked the beginning of a long-drawn battle with the EFCC, which forced him to flee from home in the middle of the night with his pregnant wife while turning to the court for what he thought was the only means of getting justice. In three years, Jude Bela lost everything to what appears to be another case of profiling of young Nigerians as fraudsters by Nigerian security operatives.

The EFCC was established in 2003 by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo after pressure from the international community to join the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. The president appointed lawyer-turned-police officer, Nuhu Ribadu as its chairman and the agency gained prominence for prosecuting high-profile cases, particularly the arrest of the then inspector-general of police, Tafa Balogun and former governor of Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in 2005,

In recent years, however, the agency has been accused of falsely profiling young Nigerians under the guise of fighting internet crime. In 2019, the Nigerian Bar Association threatened to sue the EFCC after one of its members was arrested and paraded as a criminal before he was found guilty of any crime.

In 2019, the commission publicised a press statement announcing the arrest and planned prosecution of Mohammed Audu for allegedly diverting “several millions of U.S. Dollars and billions of Naira” donated to the Nigerian Football Federation as a member. Despite being quizzed several times by the commission, Audu was not prosecuted and charges were not filed against him.

Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi: Where it all began

Born to a pastor father and a very religious mother, Jude grew up in a church in the Otukpo town of Benue state where he also had his primary and secondary education. He graduated in 2012, and in the same year, he was admitted to study microbiology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi in Benue state.

Jude’s father was not a very wealthy man and the teenager while in school had always found himself racking his brain thinking of businesses he could do while in school to support his family and take the financial burden off his father’s shoulders. 

In 2016 while he was in his final year, Jude’s friend (name withheld) confided in him that he just received his first paycheck from Google as a YouTuber. Jude became instantly interested.

“I became interested and told him to teach me how he recorded the videos and uploaded them. He was a good friend and he agreed and that was how I started my Youtube channel,” he told Neusroom.

But it did not last. After a few months of low views on his videos, Jude abandoned the channel and instead went back to the drawing board to think of a business he could engage in.

Bela said: “An idea came to my mind that I could provide food for students but instead of just a canteen. I could also find a way to deliver it to them. It was a novel idea at the time and no one was doing it.”

Jude reached out to his Youtuber friend to pitch the idea to him. The latter agreed to fund it and Jude began a food business in late 2015. He employed a cook and two other people to take charge of orders and deliveries. The food service soon grew popular among students, especially those living outside of campus. What they did was to put a call through to Jude and tell him the kind of food they wanted. He would arrange it with the cook and it would be delivered to the customer.

“The business was successful but it was taking a lot of my time so much I hardly had time to attend lectures. Also, as demand increased, I was forced to put all the profits after expenses and salaries back into the business. It was tough but it was a valuable experience in entrepreneurship.”

In 2016, Jude reopened his Youtube channel this time improving on his SEO and focusing on political issues., His friend who introduced him to it also bought him an android phone.

“I would stay up for hours watching his videos and learning from him. I studied how he recorded and uploaded his content and the work he put into making his content interesting.” 

It was the build-up to the 2019 general elections and interest in political-related content was high. Jude intensified his video production and in March 2017, he got his first pay from Google and his channel went viral. The views came pouring in and as they increased, so did his AdSense revenue. By the time he graduated later that year, Jude knew he would not be pursuing a career in microbiology. He seemed to have already found his calling.

Youtube, More Money and the EFCC predicament

Shortly after graduating and while many of his friends were putting together their CVs and submitting job applications online, Jude rented an apartment in Makurdi, choosing to stay in the state capital. The revenue came pouring in in dollars and while being in school and working on projects gave him limited time to record videos, the post-university period gave him ample time to increase his video production. By 2018, political discourses had dominated almost every shred of media conversation and Jude tapped into it.

In February 2018, he rented a shop and started a supermarket business, funded by his Youtube earnings. He named it Bela Supermarket.

By then, his Youtbe page grew to 85,000 subscribers averaging 50,000 views per video with the highest having more than 1 million views. 

2018 turned out to be a memorable year for Bela. After setting up the supermarket, he bought a car and a piece of land in Makurdi and began the construction of a house. He also got married in November of that year

“The Youtube earnings rose significantly that I did within a year what I thought would take me decades to achieve.”

The video-sharing platform, Youtube, has become a major source of revenue for many young Nigerians who create video content and share on the platform daily. The platform allows creators with at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of views within a year to monetise their videos. Those who qualify are allowed to create a Google AdSense account through which they are paid. Some creators make between $2 and $12 per 1,000 views while others make higher than that. Longer videos increased the value of the payment and since Bela’s videos were usually between 20 to 30 minutes, it gave him a better opportunity of increasing his earrings. From earning 12 cents monthly, his earnings grew to an average of $20,000 per month, he told Neusroom.

As the value of the dollar continued to go up and the Naira went on a downward spiral, Jude realised that he was earning a lot of money and needed to invest more. The supermarket business was doing fine with its own manager and did not need to pour more money into it. He came up with the idea to start a digital television. He employed 5 young graduates and set up B TV and they began recording different shows.

“I thought of how I could make the TV and its show trend on social media and come up with an idea for a debate. I posted on Facebook asking people to debate whether they would take a job with a million naira pay or take one million naira upfront for a business. I promised to give anyone who won the show N1 million.”

The debate went viral on Facebook and drove traffic to his Youtube page. Jude decided to expand the TV station operation and moved the location from his house to a studio that he rented also in Makurdi and furnished.

Then he received the call that changed everything on March 29, 2019.

Jude went to his lawyer to inform him of the situation. The lawyer advised him that going to the EFCC office on a Friday could lead to his arrest and detention till Monday.

“I was not satisfied as I needed to withdraw money to pay for some things so I went o another lawyer who also gave the same advice. So during the weekend, I printed all my statements of account which contained my Google AdSense revenue so I could tender them to the EFCC. I was optimistic that in three days by Monday, everything would be resolved.”

It would take three years for any semblance of resolution to occur.

On that Monday, Jude in the company of his new lawyer went to the office of the EFCC in Makurdi. After they were allowed in and explained why they were they, two EFCC operatives took them into a room for questioning.  There, they quizzed Jude, asking him about what he did for a living, how many accounts did he operate and why was he being paid in dollars.

“I explained to them that I was a Youtuber who earned money through my AdSense based on how much Google calculated that I had made. I showed them my earnings and explained to them how publishing on Youtube works and why I was being paid for it. Then I asked them why they were interested in my source of income and if anyone had written a petition to them that I was engaged in fraud but they did not respond. Instead, they kept on asking the same questions in different ways but my response did not change.”

The interview went on for six hours. By 5 pm, Jude was tired having not eaten anything before going to the EFCC office. Just when he thought the questioning had ended, the operatives brought out a file with his name on it and boldly written on it was “Investigation for Fraud and Money Laundering.” They also produced a search warrant for his house and told him they would be carrying out an investigation at his residence.

“I was shocked because up until that time, they did not tell me I was under arrest and I had gone to their office myself to sort things out. I also provided all the evidence to support my argument that I was making money legally but they were not convinced.”

With guns drawn, EFCC operatives loaded themselves into a bus and drove Jude to his house. His neighbours were in shock when they saw him being escorted into the compound by gun-totting agents. There they combed through all his belongings in his apartment while his wife watched in fear. At the end of their search, they took every single document and receipt they found. They also took his laptop and phone and asked him to write down the username and passwords of all his emails including his business emails and social media accounts. In the end, they insisted that Jude should follow them back to their office and when they got there, he was informed that there was an order from above to detain him while the investigation was ongoing. Despite protest from his lawyer, he was detained.

“I was angry”, Jude said. “I had shown them everything and even revealed the step-by-step process of how video contents generate revenue but they did not seem to understand. Instead, I was locked up and told the investigation will continue the following day.”

When Jude woke up the following morning from one of the worst sleep he had ever had, he was taken to a room with more operatives and asked to reveal the names of members of his gang involved in financial crime.

“To say I was angry was an understatement”, Jude said. “I told them again and again that I was a video content creator so how could I provide the names of members of a gang that did not exist? Eventually, I was told to give them the names of my friends who could testify to the kind of work that I did and I gave them four names of people – two of them students – who not only knew what I did but were also experimenting with video production. I felt if questioned, they would be able to repeat the same thing I told the EFCC officials and I would be released.”

When the four friends arrived at the EFCC office, they were happy to provide information that they believed would help free Jude. To their surprise, they were asked to give a statement and after that, informed that they would be locked up and be investigated. Despite the fact that two of them were still students and had exams scheduled for the next day, their bail application was denied.

“I begged them to release my friends even if they wanted to keep me because they had willingly come to provide information to corroborate my statement but they refused. One of the investigating officers eventually told me that they had gone through my bank statements, combed through my phone and emails and found nothing incriminating but that they got ‘orders from above’ to keep investigating me. This was after I had gone through my bank statement for two to three years explaining every inflow and outflow of money in my accounts without faltering.”

Finally, after four days in detention, Jude was eventually granted bail alongside his four friends who were bitter because they felt he had set them up. The ones in school were angry that they had missed their final year examination which meant they would automatically have an extra year.

One of Jude’s bail conditions was that he would be available to EFCC’s summon anytime they needed him. This meant he could not leave Benue state as he had to be close to the EFCC office in Makurdi. On some days, EFCC operatives would call him randomly and ask him to come around where they would grill him for hours on where he got money to buy a car and start building a house shortly after leaving university while his mates were still seeking jobs in the market. His response did not change: His money came from Youtube.

One Friday, an EFCC operative called Jude and told him the commission wanted to see his wife alone at their office as part of their investigation.

He said: “My wife was pregnant at the time and I refused. I was furious. If I allowed my wife to go there alone, there was a chance they could detain her and she would not be bailed out as they did to me. I told them to wait till Monday and ended the call. I called my lawyer and told him I did not feel safe anymore. He agreed to take me and my wife to a safer location for the weekend. That was the day I decided that Instead of being harassed and intimidated and living my whole life in fear, I was going to take the fight to the EFCC. My business was grounded, my work devices seized, my house construction paused and my money was frozen. I was angry and told him I wanted to sue and he agreed.

Jude Bela takes the fight to Court

In April 2019, Jude filed a human rights violation against the EFCC at the Federal High Court in Makurdi. He requested N100 million in damages. The case lasted for three months and the judge granted justice in favour of Jude. The EFCC was asked to return his documents and seized properties and Jude was awarded N5 million in damages.

Despite the court order, the EFCC refused, saying they were going to appeal the judgement. It took his lawyer going back to their office to explain that they had to comply first before filing an appeal for the EFCC to release Jude’s properties.

“I found out shortly after my things were released to me that Youtube had pulled down my page. Apparently, they (EFCC) had made an unauthorised entry into my account and had attempted to tamper with my Adsense. I wrote to Google but was unable to get back the Youtube page.”

By the time Jude’s account was unfrozen, he had a lot of debts piled up. His legal fees were enormous and he had also borrowed money from friends during the period his account was frozen. When he opened the supermarket, most of the goods were either expired or damaged and so Jude gave the rest away and shut it down permanently.

A few weeks after the federal high court judgement, Jude got a call from the appeal court that the EFCC and two banks had filed a joint appeal over the N5 million judgement awarded in his favour. The appeal dragged on for three years from 2019 until July 2022. In that period, everything crumbled. He sold his uncompleted building and car for half the market price to take care of the loans and court expenses.

“I lost everything trying to fight the EFCC and banks in court. My businesses suffered and I had to start from ground zero. My Youtube page with thousands of followers was gone.”

In July 2022, the appeal court gave its judgement upholding the judgement of the high court that the EFCC had no right to seize Jude’s properties or freeze its account. However, the court reduced the N5 million awarded by the high court in damages to N1.2 million. Jude cried.

“The legal fees alone for the three-month high court case cost me N1.5 million. The appeal court filing alone cost N1 million and the case which lasted three years meant the cost would be higher and the N1.2 million would not even cover it. I could not believe it.

“I thought I would get justice when I took the case to court. I thought the court was the place where every common man wronged by the system would get relief but I did not know I was wrong.  How can the court award N1.2 million when the cost of fighting the case in court alone was more than that? My properties were seized, I was paraded and locked up like a criminal and my source of income was destroyed; yet the EFCC did not find me guilty of any offence. My businesses, studio, car and house were gone and I still left the court in tears and in debt. If that was justice, then it would have been better if I had not gotten it because I lost everything.”

Although he has kept the option of going to the Supreme Court open, Jude has not taken any step yet because he has been trying to start another Youtube page. He has been struggling to keep his family together financially. While the banks have paid N1 million in damages which has quickly gone to settle legal fees, the EFCC has still not paid its own N200,000.

“My only regret was not leaving the country to be doing my business from outside and that is one piece of advice I would give to young Nigerians in tech. Leave before the country ruin everything because they cannot tell when a young person is doing legitimate business from fraud. I wish I had left.”

Neusroom reached out to the EFCC through its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, but he is yet to respond to repeated calls and text messages to his number.