The ikunle abiyamo (birth pangs) that got Oreoluwa’s mother worried stemmed from the fear being created all over the country, particularly in the South-West by the activities of a new set of money ritualists in town known as Yahoo Plus Boys.

When the news first broke of female briefs being stolen by Yahoo Plus guys to make money ritual, especially on the web, many felt the story was more of mere speculation than factual. However, when arrests were made with the culprits paraded with the stolen female briefs as well as confessions made in the open, it suddenly dawned on all, particularly the womenfolk, that a new terror was in town.

Following the realisation that, indeed, female panties have now become hot materials for overnight riches, Nigerians have now been grappling and trying to devise ways of defeating the devious plots of the Yahoo Plus Boys who have now shifted from internet fraud in their get-rich-quick ways to outright ritual.

How the deed is usually done –Herbalist

Saturday Tribune’s search for deeper insight led to seeking out a herbalist in the Gas Line area of Sango, who spoke but pleaded not to be named for security reasons. He confirmed that young men still approached him on the use of female undies for wealth. Speaking to Saturday Tribune on the condition of anonymity, the traditionalist explained that blood-stained undies work faster when presented.

“Some young men still come to me asking me to assist them in wealth transformation through the use of female undies but I have never obliged them because I have female children and don’t know the owners of the female undies they brought to me. Most of these boys live around my neighbourhood, and the strategy they use in getting these female undies led me to discourage them anytime they approach me for such services. Their strategy includes inducing younger kids who live in face-me-face-you apartments with money to help them bring any female undies of their neighbours,” he said.

Asked how female panties work, the herbalist explained that blood-stained panties work faster due to the connection of the blood in it. “When an underwear stained with blood is presented, there is less incantation or work that will be done on it because the blood on the undies already links us to the owner. All that is then needed is the staining of the undies with the blood of the person that brought it. That connects the undies to the person in possession of it, thereby ensuring that when money arrives, it arrives through whatever business the person in possession of the undies does,” the herbalist explained.

When asked of the fate of the owners of such undies with blood stains, he stated further that, “In most cases, the owners of such undies don’t die, depending on the style of the traditionalist. However, the owner of such blood-stained undies becomes useless to the society. The more wealth that comes the way of the presenter of the undies, the more useless the owner of the presented undies become.”

He, however, confirmed that he has heard instances where owners of used undies gradually lose weight and die, and that is why he discourages people that approache him with female undies.

On female undies not stained with blood, he explained that any traditionalist that is approached will need the names of the owners of such undies.

“If the undies do not have blood stains, then the name of the owner will be requested for. Unlike the blood-stained undies that automatically connects the charm to the owner, the undies without blood stains require more incantation that will include the name of the owner,” he added.

On how he discourages clients that approach him with undies, he stated that, “Most times, I tell them that I don’t render such services. I live in a face-me-face-you apartment and don’t know if the undies belong to my female children. So, when approached, I tell them that I no longer have in possession some ingredients that will be used for such work.”

He then advised that females who live in face-me-face-you apartment be careful with the way they dry their undies after laundry because they are most vulnerable to being victims due to the kind of houses they live in.

How female panties are procured

From the confession of arrested Yahoo Plus guys, the commonest way to get female underwear is to stylishly steal their girlfriends’. This, according to them, accounts for what is seen as their promiscuous lifestyle by dating many ladies at the same time. Such ladies are always spoilt with gifts and a lot of cash, which they ordinarily might not come across dating regular guys. Unknown to these ladies, their briefs are taken from them for ritual in exchange for the extravagant lifestyle they enjoy with the ritualists’ largesse.

Another way of getting hold of briefs from unsuspected ladies is the use of agents. The Yahoo guys contract the job out to others to get hold of the briefs at amounts which range from N30,000 to N100,000 or more. The person contracted might be a young male and female and in some cases house helps.

A particular story of house helps’ participation recently broke the internet couple of months back when a young lady who was working as a maid was caught stealing the panties of her boss’s daughter. The lad in question was recorded confessing that she was approached by a guy who made a deal with her to give her N35,000 for each stolen pant.

Late last year in Osogbo, Osun State, a lady was reportedly kidnapped and asked to remove her underwear at gunpoint. She had no option but to do as asked. This also is another strategy being deployed by these Yahoo guys to get rich by all means. It was in the same Osogbo that a pant thief, obviously an agent, was jailed on March 11. A magistrates’ court presided over by Rofiat Olayemi had sentenced the 19-year-old suspect, Olasunkanmi Yekini, to a six-year jail term for stealing three female underwear and a mobile phone valued at N6,000, without an option of fine.

Prosecutor in Yekini’s case of theft and breach of public peace, Jafani Musilimi, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on January 28 around 10.00 a.m., adding that the culprit broke into the apartment of one Folashade Ganiyu at No. 12, Ibokun Road, Oja-Oba area, Osogbo, and stole three underwear belonging to her in her bathroom and also a mobile phone. Musilimi said the offence contravened sections 412 and 249(d) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Vol. 11, Laws of Osun, 2002.

Yekini’s method is said to be fast becoming popular and quite easy for these daredevil characters in Lagos State, which is breaking in and stealing ladies underwear from their homes. At an area in Agbado Crossing, a suburb of Lagos, the alarm was raised that a couple of ladies’ briefs were stolen. However, no arrest was made as it was seen as a mere speculation. Olamide Ogunbase, who lives close to the house told Saturday Tribune that in January, a particular lady living in one of the rooms in a face-to-face building raised the alarm in the evening that her briefs that she spread on the clothe line outside the house were missing. She said she could only find two out of four. After so much noise, the situation was laid to rest as her co-tenants dismissed the case because they believed the lady in question was troublesome as she always found reasons to fight. Efforts to speak with the lady proved abortive as she moved out of the house at the end of January.

Why undies should dry under sun

From the reports of stolen female briefs, one would wonder why some ladies still indulge in spreading theirs outside, especially where they can be easily stolen. Oloruntobi Kehinde, a certified nurse, explained to Saturday Tribune that the reason women are advised to spread their briefs under the sunray is because of the sterilising effect of the sun as women are prone to infection through the vagina. She noted that there are other options which include ironing the briefs. “However, people are used to the traditional method of spreading undies under the sunlight probably because of the belief that nothing can take the place of or function as the sun,” she said.

This belief is shared by Mama Happiness, a single mother with three girls between ages 7 and 13. She told Saturday Tribune that despite the news going round about stealing of briefs, she still spreads hers and that of her children outside the house. “It is the Lord that protects one jare. My house is quite safe and I doubt anyone will enter the compound and go to the back of the house where we have lines for the spreading of our clothes. Most times I wash my clothes as well as my undies and my children’s before going to the shop. At times, I ask my eldest daughter, Happiness, to go home and pack the clothes inside. But at times, I do that when we all come back from the shop at night. So far, my briefs have never gone missing and I strongly believe they will not be stolen as God is our protection,” she stated.

She explained further that she dares not spread them inside the house as some now do, because she gets infected easily. “And I don’t want infections for my daughters, so how I take care of my briefs is the same way I take care of my daughters’ briefs” she said.

How we protect our underpants –Ladies

A certain Mrs Akinbami who lives at Abule-Egba will not be as daring as Happiness’ mom. According to her, since the news came that briefs were being stolen, she had ceased spreading her underwear in the open. “My house is a very big house. We are 11 tenants with the landlord in a two-storey building of four flats on each floor. Immediately I started hearing the news about stolen briefs, I stopped spreading my pants on the line outside. Instead, I spread them in the bathroom close to the window so that rays of light can touch them. Also, I have started ironing my briefs but with the electricity supply, this is difficult at times,” Mrs Akinbami said. She explained that even for her two daughters, her husband had warned her against spreading their pants outside. “In fact, my husband fought with me on the day he noticed that his daughters’ underpants were spread outside. He said I was selfish to protect myself and not my daughters but then I only heard of ladies underpants being stolen and not children’s. To avoid quarrel, I agreed to spread their underpants, too, inside”, she added.

To be on a safer side, some ladies have adopted putting on men’s briefs so as to protect themselves from being used as men briefs are considered useless to the Yahoo Plus guys. Adeola Ogunjobi explained that her friend hinted her on this technique when they were discussing the prevalent issue facing the womenfolk. According to her, “most of my friends now wear boxers instead of underpants. I found it strange at first but when I tried it, I found it more comfortable than putting on underpants. I only wear underpants when I am menstruating. Now I feel relieved when I spread my boxers outside because it’s believed that it’s only men that wear boxers. Even when I spread the boxers, I make sure that I spread my jean trousers close to them, so as to deceive whoever might want to steal pants. Although I don’t pray for my briefs to be stolen, I need to be wise,” she said.

Some extremely careful ladies have, however, dumped wearing of undies all together, believing it is better to be safe than sorry. Speaking to some female students of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), it was gathered that most of the ladies now go about “pantless” for the fear of their briefs being stolen. Oreoluwa explained that as the story of stolen briefs had proven to be true, a lot of her friends now prefer to avoid wearing undies to avoid having them stolen. Ore said it was her mum that even called her and begged her to stop putting on underpants all together. “I thought it was a joke but when I went home in December, my mum actually seized all my undies and begged me to stop putting them on. In fact, she was near paranoid. She said female hostels were the target and she did not want to cry over me. After much persuasion, I conceded to stop wearing undies. Although it was quite uncomfortable at first, now I am used to not putting them on”, she said, adding that whenever she wore light clothes, she put on underskirt and whenever she was menstruating she used disposable pants which she cut into tiny pieces after usage.

Female underpants sellers react

With the surge in the pant theft business, Saturday Tribune also visited some female underwear sellers in various markets in Lagos.

At the Ojota Bus Stop Market, an underwear seller who identified herself simply as Iya Lati pointed out that sales had remained the same. “I wouldn’t say sales have dropped. They have remained the same despite the economic downturn. I still went to the market in Balogun to buy more goods to restock my shop,” she said.

Iya Lati, however, pointed out that more women are opting for lacy pants. “I noticed that there is a surge in the request for lacy pants as women are opting more for this. I believe it is so because it gets dried faster after washing, unlike cotton pants which you have to spread outside,” she said

When asked if heard about the surge in pant theft, Iya Lati said, “I heard how women’s undies have now become hot cake. The truth is that it is nothing new.  When I was younger, my mum cautioned me about properly disposing my underwear.  Women should be very careful about where they keep their underwear,” she said.

Another underwear seller at the Binukonu Mrket who declined to give her name also said that there had been an influx in the number of men who buy female underwear.

“I believe it’s just a gift for their loved ones.  My sales have however not reduced,” she said, adding that women still buy underwear from her with the end of the month being the peak period.

Not easy to prove –Lawyer

A Lagos-based legal practitioner, Mr Shina Adedeji, said evidence is critical to bringing perpetrators of female underwear theft to justice. Adedeji was quoted in a report as saying that proving the internet fraudsters, popularly known as ‘Yahoo Plus Boys’, were guilty of stealing underwear for ritual purposes would require adequate evidence.

According to him, without proper evidence, the perpetrators might simply be charged with stealing, which is punishable with three-year imprisonment or they could go free.

“First, it has to be proven that the defendant did, in fact, steal the underwear. Without such evidence, nobody can be convicted. It also has to be proven that the said Yahoo Boy is a ritualist, if he has taken the lady to a suspicious place in the past that could serve as evidence. If the prosecution can only prove the stealing of the underwear, the only conviction for stealing can be obtained, not ritualism. You cannot just pick anybody on the road and say that the person is a ritualist without proof,” Adedeji said.

He stated further that it was only if the defendant had manhandled a lady in the course of stealing her underwear that he could equally be charged with assault.

“The court of law is a court of evidence, it is not like an herbalist who would just consult his oracle and be able to identify the offender. Evidence! That is the key word. It must be brought to the court to convince it, else the person would walk away free. You must be able to say this person has committed this offence; this is the evidence; then the law should take its course. There are available laws to take care of Yahoo Boys, like Section 419 of the Criminal Code and the Advance Fee Fraud Act but without evidence, they cannot be convicted,” Adedeji said.

He added that if as a result of adequate evidence the stolen underwear is linked to the death of a lady, the defendant would be charged with murder and hanged to death upon conviction.

He commended the police for fighting the menace and urged Nigerians to be on constant alert and report suspected Yahoo Boys to the police.