Commercial sex workers in Abraka community in Delta State on Monday blamed the current low patronage in their sex trade on the crack down on ritualists including ‘Yahoo, Yahoo boys’ in the state by the police.
The prostitutes, numbering over 30 from two well known brothels in the area, took to various streets in the early hours in skimpy dresses that barely cover their nudity, chanting sorrowful songs mainly in Ibo language, regretting that since the ongoing crack down on ‘Yahoo, Yahoo boys’ and ritualists by the police, things have not been the same in terms of the patronage they get.
The protesting prostitutes said, “The police have brought bad market for us. We no longer get patronage as we used to get in Abraka community when Yahoo, Yahoo boys were in charge. Hunger is now treating us very bad, the Yahoo, Yahoo boys pay very well better than others. They have stopped coming to our hotels, we are now suffering”.
One of the commercial sex workers, Angela Chioma, who spoke to newsmen in the area, said, “business has died in Abraka community where we used to make money, a whole day nobody comes. Our powerful customers have been driven away by the police. It is the Yahoo, Yahoo boys that used to patronize us very well. They pay well and don’t ask for change. Every day, we will seat down without a customer, things are very rough for us. We shall soon relocate to elsewhere, some of us are not from Delta State. To make matters worse, even when we call them, they don’t pick calls and any of them who picks will issue stern warning not to call them again”.
But the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Andrew Aniamaka, who spoke to newsmen in Asaba, said, “the police will not relent in doing its job. The police will ensure all the Yahoo, Yahoo boys are brought to book across the state. Even the brothels, the police will soon embark on operation raid all the brothels and hotels across the state, the Yahoo, Yahoo boys are gradually relocating to elsewhere, it’s a plus for the police since the crack down on them”.
