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
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 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.
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