Punch reports:
A human trafficking
victim, Love John, says she slept with more than 400 men in less than five
months in the Sango Ota area of Ogun State.
Love, 22,
and her 23-year-old sister, Happiness, were lured into prostitution sometime in
January by their eldest sister, Mary.
Mary also
tricked a cousin, Joy Lawrence, 25, promising the three ladies that she could
give them jobs that would help them make a decent living.
However, by
the time they discovered that they had been trafficked, the victims said they
had become trapped.
Punch learnt that Lawrence and another
victim fled the hotel on Monday when they could no longer bear the pain they
were subjected to.
Lawrence was
reported to have been brought to the Lagos zonal headquarters of the Nigeria
Immigration Service, which then stormed the hotel and rescued other victims.
The agency
also arrested Mary and the owner of the hotel, one Mrs. Akpojaro Rose, an indigene
of Warri, Delta State.
It was
learnt that the ladies collected between N500 and N700 per sex, paid N200 per
day for hotel rates, and made about N340,000 in savings within the period.
Narrating
her ordeal, Love told our correspondent she did not have any formal education
because their father died when they were toddlers.
She
explained that her sister lured her into prostitution, saying she slept with an
average of four men a day.
She said, “I
was learning tailoring in the village. My sister told me she could help me get
a job in Lagos; she didn’t tell me that it was prostitution I was coming to do.
After we got to Lagos, she said we should do this (prostitution) job so we can
make money to be able to finish my craft as a tailor. I sleep with about four men
in a day and each of them pay me at least N500.”
Her elder
sister, Happiness, also said she was not aware she had been trafficked until
she arrived in Lagos and was introduced to prostitution.
“I didn’t go
to school and I have not learnt any trade. I came to Lagos a few months ago. My
sister didn’t tell me this was what I was coming to do in Lagos. She said it
was a good job,” she said.
Lawrence,
who fled the hotel on Monday, said she was told she would be trading when she
left their hometown in Ogoja, Cross River State.
“I ran away
because I didn’t like the work. I don’t want to do it again. I never knew this
was the job,” the victim said.
But Mary
said she did not want to bring her relatives into the trade, adding that she
gave in to pressure when they kept asking her to take them to Lagos.
She said, “I
came to Lagos with a friend in 2014 and my friend introduced me to this job. We
were first using a hotel called Happiness Hotel before we moved to Morning Star
Hotel in Sango Ota.
“When I
travelled to the village, my sisters started disturbing me that they wanted to
follow me to Lagos to go and work.
“When they
continued to disturb me, I decided to take them with me; but I didn’t tell them
I was into prostitution. I told my mother I was working in a beer parlour.
“Each of us
makes N2,500 to N3,000 daily. We sleep with an average of three to four men and
they pay between N500 and N700.”
The
32-year-old said from January till May 16 when they were arrested, she had
saved N340,000 for the three girls.
She, however,
alleged that the hotel was raided by some policemen from the Sango Ota
division, whom they settled with N150,000.
The owner of
the hotel, Rose, told PUNCH Metro
that she gave out rooms to the girls at the rate of N200 per day.
“I warned
Mary that the girls were too young, but she didn’t listen to me. I have 15
rooms in my hotel and I have seven girls, who were paying me N200 every day. If
I had children of their age, I will not allow them do this,” she said.
The
Assistant Comptroller General of Immigration, Musa Maza, who handed over the
victims to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and
other related matters, said the suspects would be prosecuted at the end of
investigations.
He said,
“This is a human trafficking case in the form of enslavement and prostitution.
The victims were forced into sex against their wish. Two of them actually
escaped. The whereabouts of one is unknown, but the second victim contacted
someone who brought her to the immigration office.
“Parents
should be vigilant and wary of those who come for their children asking them to
be released in search of greener pastures. We are handing them over to NAPTIP
for prosecution. We believe this will serve as a deterrent to those that will
want to engage in this useless business.”
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