Armed policemen from Zone 7 Command Abuja have relieved Kogi State university students of ₦8.62 million after storming their Gwarinpa hotel, branding them "Yahoo Yahoo boys" and forcing cash transfers through a POS operator stationed in front of the station, insiders told SaharaReporters. Six officers allegedly broke into the students' rooms, hauled them to the Wuse Zone 3 facility and warned that worse awaited anyone who squealed. The victims emptied their accounts, walked free, and have stayed silent out of fear. Evidence of the transfers and officers' phone numbers has landed at the Force Headquarters Complaint Response Unit, yet the Investigating Police Officer reached on Tuesday refused to speak on the record while the accused personnel boast of high-level connections.
That a POS machine sits in the shadow of Zone 7 Command, dutifully swallowing ₦8.6 million extorted from undergraduates, shows the business of police corruption has moved from roadside shakedowns to streamlined, digital convenience.
The same week the Inspector-General preaches "citizen-friendly policing," officers under his nose run a private revenue service targeting students who fit the lazy stereotype of every hoodie-wearing boy being a fraudster. When the complaint unit already holds transfer receipts and phone numbers yet the IPO declines comment, the silence is not procedural; it is the sound of a system protecting its own.
For parents scraping together school fees and rent, this means any child in a hostel or hotel can be profiled, jailed and bankrupted in one night, with the sole escape route a POS receipt. The real crime here is not just the theft; it is the official assurance that the boys cannot seek redress without risking another visit.
This is the same Abuja where SARS was disbanded for identical behaviour, the same Zone 7 where previous complaints vanished. Until a prosecution actually happens, the lesson for young Nigerians is travel in groups, keep your bank app open—and pray the next knock is not from Bassey and his card-swiping squad.
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