Six Nigerian women have
been sent back to the country from the Burkina Faso where they were allegedly
taken to for prostitution by a woman, named Balikis.
While re-uniting the
girls with their parents in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday, the Comptroller of
the Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, Innocent Akatu, said the
girls were tricked to leave Nigeria, adding that the victims did not tell their
parents about the journey.
Akatu said the girls
refused to engage in prostitution in Ouagadougu, Burkina Fasso, and were locked
in a room by the trafficker.
He added that their
journey back home after three weeks began when one of them escaped and alerted
the Burkinabe police.
He said, “The victims,
after being smuggled to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, discovered that they were
going to be used for prostitution. They were not even told that they were going
to Burkina Faso. These girls were told that they would be given lucrative jobs
abroad; one of them was told that she was going to manage a jewellery shop
owned by her trafficker.
“One of them was taken
from her home in Ikorodu, Lagos State, and driven to Saki in Oyo State. When
she asked why it had taken them so long to reach the airport, she was told that
the plane had left and that they would have to travel by road.
“The Nigerian embassy
assisted in arranging emergency travelling documents for them to return to
Nigeria after their lucky escape. We have taken them to the hospital for
screening and they are HIV negative.”
- Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment