The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has secured the conviction of 316 human traffickers.
Speaking at a workshop organised by the Conference of Western Attorneys-General (CWAG) in conjunction NAPTIP in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the agency’s Chief Legal Officer, Ijeoma Amugo, said assets of the convicted traffickers have been forfeited to the Victims Trust Fund.
Amugo, who said they have about 145 pending cases, pointed out that some of their challenges include insufficient funds, the clandestine nature of the crime, interagency rivalry, porous borders, relationship ties, tender age of victims, lack of training for investigators and prosecutors, unwillingness of victims to testify in court, oath taking in shrines and delay in the criminal justice system.
Cross River State Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General, Mr Joe Abang said the endemic nature of the menace in the state was of great concern.
“It is reported that Calabar has become the transit haven for traffickers, who as a result of clampdown on their activities in neighbouring states like Edo have relocated to Calabar, taking advantage of the low crime rate to perpetrate their nefarious activities. They use the ports and various creeks in the area to transport their victims to countries, such as Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, among others. But I have bad news for them. Cross River State has never been and will never be a hiding place for criminals. We will use every machinery of government at our new disposal to ensure that the long arm of the law catches up with them,” he said.
He also commended NAPTIP for the efforts they were making to check the problem.
Board Member of CWAG, African Alliance Partnership, Mr Markus Green, said more attention should be paid towards helping victims of human trafficking.
“The whole issue is about the victim. The justice system serves to protect the victim. Punishment is important, but most important is to bring peace to the victim and protect the victim from harm,” Green said.
Speaking on the relevance of the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund, Chief Intelligence Assistance of NAPTIP, Mrs Odugbesan Tolulola, said they have, so far, received a total of 9, 453 victims who were provided with psychological counselling.
She said the agency was able to empower 388 victims in various skills such as petty business, hairdressing, tailoring, hat making, knitting, catering, photography and education, among others.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has reveal plans to enlist the services of undercover female police officers, Department of State Security and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons,(NAPTIP) the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to uncover the veracity of report of sexual abuse on women in IDPs’ camps in the state.
Shettima stated this at a courtesy call on him by a delegation from the National University Commission who are on tour of ongoing infrastructure at the proposed Borno State University held at the Government House in Maiduguri on Tuesday.
The governor’s concern is coming at the wake of reports by the Human Rights Watch released days ago accusing security officials of sexually harassing some female IDPs some of whom are allegedly pregnant.
His words: ”Today, as Governor of Borno State, there is no issue that gives me headache like the unfortunate bye-products of IDP camps. Our citizens were violently sent out of their houses and communities, it is their fundamental rights to be provided alternative accommodation with their food and health cater for. Sadly and very sadly indeed, the IDP camps have become avenues that horrible stories of sexual slavery, prostitution rings, drug peddling and other social vices are emanating from.
“Only yesterday (Monday) there was a report by a Human Rights group alleging incidences of sexual abuses by some Federal and State workers in some of the IDP camps. This is highly condemnable. Apart from investigating these claims and arresting culprits which is absolutely necessary, I am going to write letters to the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the DSS, the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency and may be the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, requesting all of them to deploy female and male undercover detectives to all our camps to permanently spy on anyone involved in sexual harassment, any form of prostitution, drugs trafficking, possible child trafficking and even the allegations of diversion of food items meant for IDP’s.
“I would want these detectives to report their findings to their security establishments and whoever is found wanting should be picked up without notifying me so long as there is verifiable evidence to prosecute him or her,” Shettima said.
Shettima who also appreciates that the present condition of the displaced people especially women can lead them to indulging in illicit activities however vowed that sanity must be injected in the system despite the circumstances.
He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, I am tired of applying the element of persuasion in handling the issues of IDP’s, we need to wield the big stick. The problem with managing the IDP camp is that you are dealing with a population of two or more local government areas in one location and you cannot imprison them by restricting or stopping them from leaving the IDP camp in the day time.
“When a female IDP leaves the camp in the morning, you cannot be in control of where she goes and who she sees. If she leaves the camp and returns the following day, she may claim to have visited a family member and little can be done. I strongly believe there are cases of sexual harassment but some of the women may be consenting to sexual advances largely due to extreme poverty and loss of value system.
“We have to instill sanity into the IDP camps and I hope we will not end up having human rights activists telling us we cannot deploy undercover detectives into IDP camps due to one form of rights violation or the other. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Sexual harassment of female IDPs is a desperate situation.
“None of us here is beyond becoming an IDP if Allah decrees and none of us would fold arms if his or her daughter is in position to be sexually harassed, so we must act now” , Gov. Shettima vows
Shettima regretted how Boko Haram has painted Borno negatively as oppose to the peaceful nature of the people.
“The Borno story that has been painted very badly by the Boko Haram. We are even tired of counting the number of deaths, number of those of injured, value of private institutions and private property destroyed and the huge number of persons internally displaced”, the Governor said.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), yesterday cautioned Nigerians against harvesting babies’ organs for financial and other purposes.
NAPTIP’s zonal Commander, Joseph Famakin, made the plea in Lagos, when the representative of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) paid him a visit.
Famakin condemned the spate of babies and human organs harvesting in the country, adding that NAPTIP would prosecute anyone caught in the criminal act.
He said: “There is a new ugly trend in this country today and that is the harvesting of babies. We want those who indulge in this inhuman act to desist. Our investigations have revealed that babies are harvested from young pregnant girls and sold to those looking for them.
“We are also aware of the situation where human organs are harvested for money or for whatever purposes and this is of utmost concern to NAPTIP. Nigerians should know that there is a new human trafficking law that has given more power to NAPTIP on all incidences of human trafficking.”
Mrs. Onyekachi Okafor has been sentenced to a nine month imprisonment by a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Kubwa, for inflicting razor cut on her ward.
It is the first conviction under the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015.
Mrs. Okafor who was arrested by officials of NAPTIP in September 2015 had used a sharp razor blade to cut the victim on various parts of his body including his abdomen, left buttocks and thigh.
In a statement issued by Mr. Vincent Adekoye, Press and Public Relations (NAPTIP) Mrs Okafor action violated aspects of the Act.
Mrs. Okafor who resides at Dape, along Karmo Road of Abuja was dragged to the FCT High Court by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on behalf of the Federal Government for willfully inflicting physical injury on a 10 year old boy (names withheld).
The boy who served her and her family as a house help received severe razor blade cuttings from Mrs. Okafor, an act which is in violation of and punishable under section 2 of the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015.
Section 2 subsection 1 of the VAPP Act says,’’ A person who willfully causes or inflicts physical injury on another person by means of any weapon, substance or object, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding N100,000.00 or both.”
When the case came up on Monday, 4th July 2016, Mrs Okafor who was arraigned on a one count charge pleaded guilty of the offence. The presiding Judge, Justice N. Ogbonna therefore, found her guilty and sentenced her to 9 months imprisonment without an option of fine. No compensation was however, awarded to the victim.
It would be recalled that the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan signed the Violence against Person (Prohibition) (VAPP) Act 2015 on 23rd May, 2015. NAPTIP was made the implementing Agency for the new Act.
The Act which applies only in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, prohibits all forms of violence against persons in private and public life and provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders.
in a related development, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, River State presided over by Justice A. Liman has sentenced Mrs. Mavis Solomon to two years imprisonment for purchasing a ten months old baby.
She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.
Mrs. Solomon was charged by NAPTIP to Court for purchasing a 10 Months old baby at the cost of N200, 000 from 2 others who are also under prosecution. The offence is contrary to Section 21 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
United Kingdom and Australia on Wednesday jointly deported 40 Nigerians for various immigration offences.
The deportees comprising male and female arrived at the hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 7:25am on chartered aircraft.
Our correspondent gathered that a chartered aircraft with the registration number ZTA -4741 brought 36 Nigerians -29 males and seven females to the country/
Also, Air Seychelles with the registration number SND-1 brought four males into the country for similar offences.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Person and other Related Offence (NAPTIP) on Wednesday arraigned Joy kenneth and Albert Eze for allegedly luring a 19-year-old girl to Dubai for prostitution.
They allegedly conspired in December 2015 to procure travel documents for the girl, who hails from Ewohimi in Benin City, Edo State.
Kenneth and Eze were accused of arranging for the girl to travel through the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos on December 14 last year.
The alleged offence contravenes Section 18 of the Traffic in Person Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
Justice Abdullazeez Anka ordered their remand in prison after they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
He adjourned until June 28 for hearing of their bail application.
The Kano Zonal Command of National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) on Sunday said it had rescued no fewer than 50 victims of human trafficking within two months.
The NAPTIP Zonal Commander, Mr Shehu Umar said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano that the victims were rescued from February to date.
He said the victims who comprised males and females, had since been reunited with their respective families.
He disclosed that the command had recorded 23 cases of trafficking, child labour, sexual exploitation and other related cases within the period under review.
He said out of the cases, 11 female suspects were involved while the remaining suspects were males.
“The cases have been investigated and one was on sexual abuse, two on child labour, one on abduction and another one on stolen baby.
“Among the cases, some do not fall within our jurisdiction so were transferred them to police for proper prosecution “, he said.
Umar said the command had within the period secured two convictions at the Federal High Court, Kano pointing out that the remaining cases were still pending in the court.
He called on the Federal Government to come to the aid of the agency by allocating more funds to enable it carry out its activities effectively.
“Our activities require a lot of funding if we are to carry out investigation, rescued victims have to be transported to their states and some times we have to take care of them.
“We also conduct counselling exercise for the rescued victims, identify their needs and even rehabilitate them”, he said.
He called on the people particularly parents to support the agency in the fight against human trafficking and other related offences. (NAN).
As an auxiliary nurse, Yusuf Omobolanle Hasfat, 32, had high hopes when she was introduced to one Alhaja Lateefat Sanni, who “takes people to America”.
The young daughter of a National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) executive in Ojota, was filled with dreams of a good job and a better life once she arrives America, such that she even parted with N1, 000,000 which was handed over to Alhaji Muritala Sanni, her ‘benefactor’s’ husband in the presence of Mrs. Sanni’s mother, Ebunoluwa Bankole.
Mrs. Ebunoluwa Bankole
But her dream was never to be as soon after paying the money, the reality of her flying to America became a horrid, brutish road trip which commenced on December 28, last year from Lagos through Kano and across the deserts terminating at Alhaja Sanni’s house in Tripoli, Libya after 11 days.
While some of the girls aged between 12 and 15 years were passed off as colanuts to soldiers and other security agents on the road, others were flogged or had their money seized, and the weaker girls who could not survive the jungle, fell off the truck in which they were lumped dying like chickens.
The victim who was rescued and returned to Nigeria on January 23, alongside one Basirat Lamidi and have since been under protective custody, on Wednesday relived her ordeal.
Hasfat and Lamidi, according to their lawyer, Ojay Akinwale who’s President, Alliance of Rights Defenders (ARD) the right group incharge of the case were not exposed to the media until this week because their traffickers were still on the loose.
Rescued victims Hasfat and Lamidi
At the lawyer’s office in Anthony, Hasfat said they were given garri, groundnut, five litres of water, powdered milk, milo and a blanket and jacket at Agadashe in Libya, with about 20 girls paired in a room to sleep, narrating how Cucumber was used to deflower teenaged girls who are sent to a brothel in a place called New York.
“The experience was horrible. At a point I begged to return to Nigeria but they told me that there was no going back. I did not know that we will be forced into prostitution. Infact initially I was told that I will be taken to America.
“I even paid one million Naira in two instalments. The first time I paid N500,000 to Alhaji Sanni infront of his wife and his wife’s mother, Mrs. Ebunoluwa.
“I met his wife through a relative who told me that she used to help people go to America. Alhaja Sanni told me that she has brother’s in America who will ensure I got a job.
“Alhaja later collected another N500,000 from me which she said was for hotel accommodation and other expenses. It was I and a 19-year-old girl that she had the meeting with at National Theatre in Lagos.
The couple, Alhaji Muritala Sanni and Alhaja lateefat Sanni
“After paying her the money, she said plans have changed and we are no longer going by air. She boarded us into a bus from Lagos to Kano from there we moved into a truck on the journey through the desert. There were about 25 to 40 people in the truck and we embarked on the journey on December 28.
“Some people were falling off the truck and dying on the way. We moved from Kano to Niger and from Niger to Agadesh. At each point, they handed us over to different cartel who will traffick us from one point to the other. They called the traffickers bulger.
“When we got to Niger, the soldiers there brought all the ladies down and they flogged us with whip.
They also raped some of the girls and stole money from us. They flogged me too but I was not raped because I had money to give them.
“I was fasting and praying all through the journey for God to save our lives. At a point, I begged to return to Nigeria but the cartel said there is no going back.
“When we got to Agadashe in Libya, she gave us garri, groundnut, five litres of water, powdered milk, milo, a blanket and jacket. We slept in the room about 20 of us. It took us 11 days to travel by road and the experience was horrible and deadly.
“We saw girls between 12 and 15 years old in the rooms. They were up to 100 of them in Alhaja Muritala’s house in Tripoli. We were not allowed to make calls as they seized our phones. I started troubling Mrs Lateefat Sanni that she should take me to America as she promised but she said I have to stay in Libya for sometime and work for her as a prostitute.
“She told me that since I refused to work as a prostitute, I should do my work to help abort pregnancy for the girls but I refused. Alhaji Sanni told me that if I want to return to Nigeria, I should call somebody to give him N3million for my release.
“I had to find a way to reach my family and I called for help. The human rights people came to my rescue and two of us were rescued to Nigeria but Alhaja Muritala and his wife had planned for us to be killed on the way.
“I saw girls dying they use cucumber to disvirgin girls between 13 and 15 years old in the brothel. The girls are made to sleep with men for N10dina (N1000) for a round of sex, 50 dina for over night. A girl called Dorcas and another girl called Joy died in my presence.
“Alhaji got a flight for us to return to Nigeria after pressure from the human rights group became unbearable for him and his wife but the plane stopped in Ghana. Mrs Lateefat gave us white and green dresses to wear. We thought she wanted us to wear good clothes but unknown to us, she used the clothes to mark us and as we boarded the bus from Ghana to Nigeria, we didn’t know she had hired assassin to kill us but we were rescued by the human rights group and brought to Nigeria on January 23,” she explained.
Corroborating the victim’s story, an Anglican Church Pastor in Tripoli, Ayobami Ayorinde, who was contacted through telephone said he has been sending some of the affected girls back home since 2012, such that he has exhausted his money.
He accused the Nigerian mission in Libya of neglecting the girls, explaining that he has even tried to get decent jibs for some of the victims.
“The problem is that many desperate people want to leave Nigeria to seek greener pastures abroad. Most of these Nigerians are from single parent home and they feel coming to Europe will solve their problems. They have cartels that prey on these vulnerable Nigerians and traffick them to Libya to work as prostitutes.
“I have been sending these girls back home since 2012. I have exhausted the cash on me and I don’t have money to send them back home.
The Nigeria Embassy in Libya is not helping these girls to return home. They turn their back on them. I am trying to help some of them get job so they can save money and return home,” he explained.
How NGO intervened
According to the lawyer, the group received a petition from the victims’ families in Lagos and Ogun State indicating that their children have been trafficked to Libya and forced into prostitution by a cartel headed by the Libya based couple who are indigenes of Odeda village in Ogun state.
He stated that the petitioners fingered Mrs. Ebunoluwa Bankole, a grandmother as a conspirator indicating that she was the only who lures young girls into the evil trade to please her daughter and son-in-law.
As a result of the petition, Akinwale said the NGO sponsored a private investigator, Prince Tunji Oshokoya to Libya, who uncovered the activities of the cartel, as well as facilitated the rescue of the two girls.
“We got a complaint from the families of one Yusuf Hafsat Omobolanle and one Basirat Lamidi that their daughters were illegally trafficked to Libya by one Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole, Alhaji Muritala Sanni and his wife Alhaja Lateefat Sanni. We employed a private investigator, a former crime reporter one Prince Tunji Oshokoya to use his experience to track down this cartel.
“Following his investigation, we found out that the two ladies were trafficked illegally with fake passports to Libya by road through the desert by one Alhaji Muritala Sanni and his wife Alhaja Lateefat Sanni, indigenes of Odeda village in Ogun state to Libya to work as prostitutes.
“We learnt that the cartel collected between N500,000 to N1.5 million to traffick girls by road through the desert to Libya after procuring fake passports for them and forcing them to take oath of allegiance after which the girls’ passports are seized and they are made to go through horrific experiences as prostitutes in Libya.
“Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole, the mother of Alhaja Lateefat Bankole helps to lure parents and guardians to allow thier daughters to go to Libya. She would tell them that the daughters will earn good money doing jobs like hair dressing and tailoring. She also helps her daughter to take the girls to the shrine were they are made to go through ritual process of allegiance to the couple.
“She follows her daughter and son-in-law to Lagos to collect money from the innocent girls and thier parents that she will help them travel to America with the connection of her daughter,” he said.
Continuing the lawyer said the group reported the case to National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, which led to the arrest of the grandmother.
He however expressed reservations on the manner the agency was handling the case, wondering why they wanted to take the woman to Ogun state for prosecution.
He explained that photographs of the cartel members were handed over to NAPTIP, just as the NGO lured her daughter to Nigeria to be nabbed but she escaped.
He said: “Through our investigation, we got the photographs of Alhaji Muritala and Alhaja lateefat to NAPTIP but sadly when they went to Abeokuta to arrest Alhaja Lateefat, her sister came out of the house and started shouting “thieves! thieves!”
“That was her the community members came out and attacked the NAPTIP officials with broken bottles and other dangerous weapon. The community members overpowered the NAPTIP officers and the policemen that came for the arrest and they whisked Alhaja Lateefat away. That was how she escaped and she is back in Libya.
“However, the NAPTIP officers arrested her mother, Mrs. Bankole three days later and she is in the custody of the NAPTIP. What we are hearing from NAPTIP is that they want to take her back to Abeokuta to prosecute her but to me that is not right because the girls were trafficked from Lagos not from Abeokuta.
“The crime was committed in Lagos so NAPTIP should not play any funny games. We are concerned and decided to get the media involved because NAPTIP has not been forthcoming with information to us. They do not carry us along and it is as if they want to bury the case. We also heard that the community members that attacked the NAPTIP officers, who were later arrested and were being taken to Lagos, were aided to escape while about five of them that they brought to Lagos have since been granted bail.
“To us this is not right because they obstructed official duty by attacking the operatives.
Oshokoya who carried out the investigation stated that the couple are known as Baba Tawa and Mama Tawa in Tripoli, adding that they are very influential in that country.
“This couple are highly connected in Libya and in Abeokuta. We lured Mrs. Sanni to Nigeria and she was apprehended by the police but one police officer known as Yusuf Bola of Ogun state command granted her bail after she gave him N500,000.
“She promised to give me N2 million as bribe to back down from the case but I refused and insisted that the two ladies be returned to Nigeria. She agreed to release them to us after signing an agreement but the cartel wanted to kill the ladies before they got to Nigeria.
“We intercepted the ladies at Seme border with the help of the police and rescued them to Nigeria. From our investigation, the couple Alhaji Muritala and his wife run brothels in Libya where over 500 girls are kept for prostitution.
“These girls live in underground rooms with about twenty of them in a room. One girl can be made to sleep with 10 to 15 men in a day. This cartel made these girls to swear to a false oath of secrecy, they seized their phones such that they cannot communicate with their families.
“The girls live in a tiny room and are fed with oil and flour once a day. We have video recordings of this hell of a brothel they run and we handed the information to NAPTIP. Some of the girls have died from infections like HIV/AIDs, others are raped in what is called baptism of the virgin or rape spree which is done by Muritala Sanni and other Libyan men. It’s the height of man’s inhumanity to man and a modern day slavery which should not be allowed to thrive,” said Oshokoya.
Other victims cry for help
Although Hafsat and Lamidi have returned safely in Nigeria, it was learnt that hundreds of girls including one Ebunoluwa Lawal, 26, are crying for help.
Lawal who is known as Smally in Libya was allegedly trafficked in 2012 by Mrs. Sanni’s sister identified as Aunty Bola and another Sir K.
Lawal who now lives with Pastor Ayorinde told reporters on telephone that she was deceived that she will be taken to Spain where she can continue her fashion designing work.
She said: “They call me Smally in Libya. It was Mrs. Lateefat Sanni’s sister one Aunty Bola and one Sir K that trafficked me through the desert to Libya in 2012. I was a fashion designer in Abeokuta when I was lured to Libya.
“They told us that they are taking us to Spain to continue my handwork. We were forty in number. I did not pay them any money for the trip. My parents do not know about the journey. We were kept in a room in Libya and forced into prostitution but I ran away and have been hiding since then.
“I want to come back to Nigeria but there is no money. I went to Nigeria Embassy but they turned me and other girls back. I am trying to work so I can save money and return to Nigeria but it’s not easy. I heard they are looking for me to kill me but a pastor is helping young girls to escape. We were about 10 to 15 in a room. They collect all the money we make and seized our passports”.
Justice for the victims?
Akinwale who said he was pained over the plight of the victims urged the federal government to as a matter if emergency, end the trade.
He also called for the prosecution of the culprits and all those who attacked state officials who went to Abeokuta to arrest Mrs. Sanni.
According to him, the community members should be tried for obstructing the process of justice, just as the couple should be repatriated and prosecuted.
He also noted the unholy role of some policemen in Abeokuta who allegedly aided the woman to escape, wondering why such a couple should be given chieftaincy titles.
“This couple have chieftaincy titles in their village and they eat and dine with the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya. It is sad indeed that Nigerian government is not caring for her citizens and they are being trafficked and made to live as slaves.
“Government should see human trafficking worst than drug trafficking. We call on the government to arrest those behind these human trafficking rings. They should be prosecuted and the over 100 trafficked girls should be returned to their families.
“The Nigeria Embassy in Libya should wake up and protect Nigerians in that country. From what we gathered, Alhaja Sanni is back in Libya and has employed some OPC members to help keep watch over the other girls so they do not escape. This woman and her husband with others should be arrested by Interpol and brought back to Nigeria to face the wrath of the law. Our government should not treat this matter with kid gloves.”
NAPTIP keeps mum
The Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Joseph Famakin when contacted said he was not on seat and cannot say which exact story was being referred to.
“I can’t answer your question because my head is not a computer to know which person is being investigated as we have over 98 cases on our hands. It is not possible for me to answer your question.”
Similarly, the Zonal spokesperson for NAPTIP, Hajara said she could not comment on the issue.
One of the four ladies rescued from a human trafficker, Ganiat Ajijola, arrested by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command, over the weekend, has disclosed that she abandoned her two children for her husband in order to pave way for botched Libya trip.
The victim, Cecilia Bankole, 26, a hair dresser stated that her husband, name withheld, resisted her plan to abandon her children in search of Golden Fleece to Libya.
The mother of two children aged 2 and 4 years respectively, noted that when the issue was discussed with her husband initially, he disagreed with the plan, “I told my husband to allow me to go so that I would have an opportunity to raise funds for the family. I pleaded with him but he insisted in having the custody of his children. Although, I am a hairdresser but not done my freedom, going to Libya to work as artisan would enable me raise funds for my freedom as well as take care of my family. Even, when my mother pleaded with him that she would be taking care of the children while I will be away, he still declined. However, after much persuasion, my husband threatened me to have the custody of his children after my departure and I must not look back for them,” she added.
She explained that the human trafficker refused to open up for them how long they would stay in Libya.
“The trafficker didn’t tell us the number of years we are going to spend in Libya. She only told us the due date of the passport and that we are going by road,” the innocent mother said.
Expressing a contrary opinion, Mrs Maria Bankole, the victim’s mother and a prophetess in a white garment church in Alagbado, said that, what Ganiat Ajejola told her was that her daughter would be re – united with her after two years.
“I was informed of a big madam, whom Ganiat Ajejola was working for in Libya needs hairdressers to help her manage her shop. Upon hearing that my daughter will be going abroad, I volunteered my daughter because she is a hairdresser. I begged her husband but he declined to allow her go on the trip but I have prayed about it and God said she should go. That is why I am encouraging her,” she said.
According to her, “I followed her to the point where they were arrested because I want to know Ganiat Ajejola before their departure. I am not aware they were going by road. They told me Ganiat was taking them to Abeokuta to arrange an international passport for them.”
The operatives of the RRS whom were on the trail and surveillance of the human trafficker for two weeks before her arrest, hinted that they acted based on a tip–off from the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
The rescued victims and the human trafficker have been immediately transferred to National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Person (NAPTIP).
The drama between pop sensation, Davido, and the estranged mother of his daughter, Sophia Momodu, is still on. The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), which Is involved in the case disclosed that they have forwarded letters of invitations to both families, and that investigation is ongoing, and yet to be finalised.
The agency’s Lagos State Zonal Commander, Mr. Joseph Famakin, while speaking to The Nation, stated: “the process of investigations have commenced. That is the only thing I can say for now. We are known for doing a diligent job irrespective of who is involved.
”For now, I cannot say anything about the case. We have sent out invitations to the parties involved. All I can say is that we have commenced a full scale investigation into the matter after we received the petition. It is when we get concrete findings that we can make comments.’
Few weeks back, it was reported that Sophia’s cousin, Dele Momodu, stopped Davido from leaving the country in company of his daughter and family with the help of the Nigerian Immigration Service.
