A YouTuber, Jude Bela, is not a happy man after alleged sustained harassment from operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cost him his means of livelihood, friendships, and peace.
Bela detailed his travails with the anti-graft commission in an exclusive interview with FIJ.
He said that the incident that would later compel him to relocate from Makurdi in Benue State to Abuja, losing his business and many friendships in the process, began in 2019 when he was a final year university student.
“I found YouTube in my final year when I was at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. I needed money at the time so I decided to learn everything about YouTube.
“After a while of being consistent with what I did, my YouTube channel blew up, so I scaled up the social ladder by buying a car, properties and even got married.
“I even started a supermarket business with part of the money I made from YouTube. With the media, I started a challenge called the ‘million naira’, challenge where people would discuss the ideas they have and a winner would be selected.
“To me, that was a way of giving back; I thought I was helping my community,” he said.
Bela recalled how a single phone call set off a chain of events from which he has yet to recover after three years.
“On March 8, 2019, I suddenly got a call from my bank that my account had been frozen. The first question the bank official asked was if I had a quarrel with anyone and I responded in the negative.
“According to a friend of mine who was a manager in the bank, he said the order for my accounts to be frozen came from Johnson Babalola, the head of the EFCC Makurdi Zonal Office.
“I didn’t believe what was going on because I knew I hadn’t committed any offence. However, when I couldn’t access any of my accounts I knew it was real and had to call a lawyer,” he told the online newspaper.
He said that as the account was frozen on a Friday, he could not do anything about the freeze order until Monday.
“My lawyer and I both went to the EFCC Makurdi Zonal office that Monday, March 11. The EFCC officials started questioning me at a point; they continued the questioning for over five hours.
“I was tired and wanted to go home when Mr. Iyke, the investigative officer, said I was being investigated for fraud and money laundering. They also said they got an order to remand me in their cell but they would search my house for more evidence.
“I was terrified and had no words to say. Before I knew what was going on, I was put into their van and driven back to my house,” Bela said.
He narrated how neighbours stared at him with scorn as his whole house was turned upside down by the EFCC operatives.
“They even searched through my wife’s undies. It was so humiliating,” Bela said.
He explained that all his documents, including car documents and land papers, and his Apple MacBook laptop were taken away for “forensic” check.
He added that he was whisked back to the EFCC’s office and locked up in one of their cells.
Bela said he was brought out of the cell the next day and confronted by a panel of four interrogators who tried to “intimidate” him.
“I explained everything about how my channel worked and the adverts which I was been paid for. I even showed them the videos I made, which were mostly about politics and injustice.
“They already convicted me for a crime I didn’t commit. The next thing I knew was one of them telling me they needed to get my gang and if I could whistle-blow on my friends, they would let me go,” he said.
He said he was left confused at the request as he only ran a YouTube channel.
“At a point, they called my friends to come to their office and they came thinking they were there to help me; they got locked up also. Two of my friends even missed their exams in the university because they were locked up for two days.
“I called for my dad and brother at a point to help me file for bail but it was futile as the officers told them that they were ready to teach me and my friends a lesson.
“Even my investigative officer confided in me that they had no incriminating evidence on me and that he had informed the Zonal Head who kept telling him to find something. He even asked to release me but the Zonal Head said not to,” he stated.
He said a new lawyer he got on the third day advised him to stay silent as the EFCC operatives had nothing incriminating on him.
According to him, the lawyer applied for bail which was granted on March 14, after an initial denial.
“However, the intimidation and harassments from EFCC never stopped, as they kept calling me at odd hours to ask me about things I had already told them about. They even forced my wife to come in for questioning to verify everything I had said,” Bela said.
He disclosed that he decided to sue the EFCC to unfreeze his account and also release his property in their custody.
The content creator said that after each hearing, calls and text messages from friends and random people asking him to drop the case flooded his phone.
“EFCC’s defence was that I was making a lot of money and I couldn’t defend the source. According to them, my bank activities were suspicious for my age so I had to prove to them that I was not into fraud,” Bela said.
He said that as the case progressed, some EFCC operatives started demanding a bribe.
“During the hearing, an agent of the EFCC visited me in my house and advised me to settle it out of court as there was no way I could win a lawsuit against them.
“On another occasion, I got a call from a man who claimed to be a Mr. Jerry, working at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, who said he had picked an interest in my case. He said he was one of the guys tasked to check my laptop for forensic evidence. He tried to bargain with me to tip them $5,000 and they would unfreeze my account and release my properties but I refused,” Bela said.
He said that the court ruled against the EFCC for freezing his account for more than 72 hours and awarded N5 million to him as damages.
“I was awarded N5 million by the court at first instance. Then I started getting calls from different individuals…I wasn’t feeling safe again so my wife and I relocated to Abuja.
“I later received another summons from the Court of Appeal as the awards granted to me were disputed by all parties. I had not even been paid yet and I was being asked to spend afresh to defend the case again. The appeal court dragged the case from 2019 till 2022.
“The higher court upheld the decision of the high court but slashed the awarded sum to N1.5 million. It didn’t even cover half the cost I had incurred while pursuing the case,” Bela disclosed.
“I lost everything. I lost my business because of lack of funds. I lost my peace because I was constantly been targeted that I had to relocate. I lost some friendships because the case took a toll on me.
“I even lost the YouTube channel that started all these in the first place, as my channel was taken down.
“Did I really get justice after all is said and done? The agents that did all these to me are still out there and nothing was done to them as the awards granted by the courts have not been honoured yet,” he lamented.
The EFCC declined to comment on the YouTuber’s ordeal.