Unah
Four schoolgirls have narrated how they were
recruited into prostitution by a suspected human
trafficker, Abigail Nweke Alo, in an alleged brothel
located in Calabar business area.
Felicia Nzuworgar, 17, Patience Williams, 18,
Angela Benjamin, 17 and Charity Nkwogor, all from
Okun and Vandeikya Local Government Areas of
Benue State, said Abigail, who they called
‘Chairlady’, took them from their homes, in
January, under the pretense that she was taking
them to Lagos where she had a drinking spot to
work as sales girls but ended up as sex workers
in Calabar.
“I was selling oranges in our market in Okun when
she tapped me on the shoulder and I turned
thinking she wanted to buy oranges but she told
me she had a business in Lagos and wanted me
to follow her. I did not know what came over me. I
just followed her without even telling my parents
and friends where I was going”, Felicia told
Sunday Vanguard.
Patience, a senior secondary school 2 Student in
Vandiekya, on her part, narrated that she was
plating a friend’s hair in front of her grandmother’s
house where she lived when Mike, a commercial
motorcycle rider, who lived in her neighbourhood,
came to inform her that a lady was looking for
someone to work in a beer parlour in Lagos, and
wanted to know if she would like to go with her.
“I told Mike that I was still in school and could not
go with the lady and that she should look for
someone else. But instead of looking for
somebody else, Mike went and brought the lady
and when she looked into my eyes, I simply went
inside and packed my clothes and followed her
without waiting for my grandmother who went out
to come back”, she stated.
Recounting her own experience, Angela said she
was on her way from school when the lady met
her and told her she wanted to take her to school
in Lagos and also assist her (Abigail) in her beer
parlour business and she went with her into the
bus where other girls were waiting.
They girls, on their way from Benue to ‘Lagos’,
stopped in Enugu where they spent the night in
the house of a man who, according to her, had
seven wives. The man was said to have given
them concoction to drink after which they were
warned that if they tried to run away, their private
parts would rot and they would die.
“The man took us into his medicine hut and gave
us the concoction to drink and, when we refused
to drink, he beat us. He told us that if we went
out without drinking, we will die. After we drank,
he said that if we ran away from ‘Chairlady’, our
private parts would rot and we will die”, Felicia
said.
According to her, after the encounter with the
man, the next day, they continued their journey.
“We got to Calabar in the night and when I asked
‘Chairlady’ if this was Lagos, she said yes”.
The next day, at the alleged brothel where they
were lodged, the girls said Abigail gave them
boxer shorts to wear and begin to ‘hustle’ for men
like other girls in the place were doing. When they
refused, ‘Chairlady’ descended on them and beat
them mercilessly.
“We arrived Calabar in the night and, the next
morning, she collected our phones and brought
boxer shorts to us that we should wear and, when
we asked her where the drinking parlour was so
that we could start work, she said we should
hustle like other girls were doing by sleeping with
men and, when we refused, she beat us up
mercilessly”, Patience narrated.
According to her, nobody came to their rescue as
all the prostitutes in the brothel were afraid of
Abigail because she was their head. “Everybody in
the hotel was afraid of her because she was their
boss and, if anyone dared to challenge her, she
will send the person out of the place”, she said.
They had to agree to begin sleeping with men
after some days as ‘Chairlady’ allegedly went on
beating them ceaselessly and denying them of
food.
“You can see marks on our bodies because of the
beating we got”, Angela said. They recounted
how each of them slept with an average of
twenty men every day while Abigail collected the
money they made, leaving them with N500.00 as
feeding money.
The girls explained that when they started the
commercial sex work, it was very painful as they
were not used to sleeping with such a large
number of men daily.
“ It was very painful when we started. Everyday
we slept with an average of twenty men for
N500.00 each and, because we were young and
new, men would line up and wait for us till about
12 midnight when the hotel closes and then
‘Chairlady’ will come in and collect the money
and, since she used to count the condoms she
was giving us, if you did not give her all the
money, she will beat you mercilessly”, Patience
said.
Thegirls said Abigail had male aides who
searched their rooms and their bodies at the
close of work each day to ensure they had not
hidden any money and, if any money was found
with them, they would be beaten up.
They said Abigail, on arrival in Calabar, having
collected their phones, did not allow any of them
to step outside the alleged brothel for fear that
they might run away and that, two of them,
Angela and Charity, who attempted to escape,
were severely beaten by the woman and her male
friends.
“ When I tried to run away, she brought a soldier
and a policeman who were her friends who beat
me up and poured tear gas in my eyes and,
because of that, I became very sick and could
not stand up for many days”, Angela recounted.
On why they followed the woman without letting
their parents know even as they were still in
secondary school , the girls said once the woman
touched them on the shoulder, they became
hypnotised and went with her.
Abigail, who claimed to be from Ebonyi State, said
her arrest by operatives from Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit of Cross River State Police
Command was due to jealously. She said she was
not the one who brought the girls to Calabar.
Mr John Eluu, Cross River State Police Command
Public Relations Officer, said the suspected
human trafficker will face the law and warned
young girls to be cautious of promises of jobs in
Lagos or any other town by human traffickers
without proof.
‘Chairlady’ has since been charged to court for
alleged kidnapping and engaging in prostitution.
