I Slept With 400 Men In Five Months – 22-Year-Old Trafficking Victim (Photo)
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 Metro 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 s*x,
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 s*x 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."
Source: PunchNg
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