No
fewer than 171 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday aboard a
chartered Nouvelair aircraft with registration number TS-1NB.
The
aircraft landed about 4.18pm at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,
Lagos.
One
of the returnees, Miss Gift Peters, said she got to Libya 11 months ago after
being deceived that she was being taken to Germany.
Highlighting
the hardship Nigerians faced at the hands of Libyans, Peters said sometimes
they were forced to drink urine as punishment.
“When
I got to Libya, it was not in my mind to continue with the journey. So I asked
the person that took me to return me to Nigeria but he started maltreating me
and sold me to someone who has a connection house in Libya where we were
maltreated daily.
“If
we don’t want to work, they will start maltreating us. They will do you
something that you will wish to die.
“Those
who they sold us to, sometimes, use iron and start burning us. At times, they
will instruct our fellow ladies to urinate for us to drink,” the Delta State
indigene said amidst tears.
According
to her, she managed to eventually contact her family in Nigeria and was
fortunate to make it back alive unlike many of her peers who joined her on the
ill-fated journey.
A
first batch, comprising 161 Nigerians, had earlier on February 14 also
voluntarily returned from the North African country where they had been
stranded en route Europe.
The
new set of returnees were brought back by the International Organisation for
Migration and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.
They
were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian
Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in
Persons and the Police.
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