•Another sends cultist to threaten pregnant sex worker battling with womb complications over N2m balance

By INNOCENT DURU

Nosakahare, a Nigerian migrant, is miserable in Dubai where she had gone to in searching of greener pastures. She left the country on October 15, 2021, upbeat that life would turn around and begin to have a positive meaning for her and her family members after some time in the Arab country.

The trip didn’t come with much stress as she already had everything perfectly worked out for her.

She said: “I was working in a PoS store before I was approached by one lady called Madam Margret, who happens to be my aunt. The madam paid for my flight down here in Dubai, but I paid for the passport.

“By the time I arrived, she had arranged with someone who came to pick me at the airport. She told the person that I would pay for the rent before the week would run out.”

She said before she left for Dubai, “Madam had said I would pay her N5 million when I get here. I told her the money was too much but she told me that when I get here and find out that the other girls here are not paying up to that I should let her know, but that it is N5 million that all the girls in Dubai are paying.”

On getting to Dubai, Nosakhare found that all the girls were paying N3 mllion back to their madams at the end of the day.

Alarmed by what she discovered, the embattled girl said: “When I told her that nobody was paying up to N5 million, she said it is a lie and that since I had agreed to pay her N5 million before leaving Nigeria, that was what I was going to pay her.

“I reluctantly agreed and started paying her the money.”

Later, the aunt started complaining that the N100,000 that Nosakahare was paying weekly was too small.

“She said that I should increase it to N200,000 or N300,000 every week, but I refused, telling her that the quoted sums were too much.

“Nigerians have problems with the Dubai authorities. Once they see you and ask if you are a Nigerian and you reply in the affirmative, they will start harassing you.

“As a result of all the challenges we are facing here, I told her it would not be possible for me to be paying her N200,000 or N300,000 weekly.

“It is a problem for us to work on the street these days. I made her to understand that I will be paying her every week based on how much work I am able to do.”

The embattled lady’s explanation apparently fell on deaf ears as the aunt subsequently returned to persuade her to pay the outrageous money.

“Two weeks ago, she said that since I don’t want to be giving her the amount she requested for, she had summoned me at the ‘Ayelala’ Shrine in Ondo State. She said that she took me to America for the past two years and that I have not been giving her any money.

“She threatened that if I don’t pay up the N5 million she asked for, by the end of this month (April) that she will swear for me at the shrine. She started threatening my life.”

The letter of summon was written on an Adeleron and Ayelala Association letter head.

The letter reads (unedited): “I, Madam Jenet give money to Margerti to send …. To America since two years. She said before the two years she would pay. She has been paying for a while but she has not been paying as usual now. I gave her April ending to everything remain with her or I will swear Ayelala for her, I summon her to Ayelala with 100 thousand. By Princess Dorothy.”

Asked if the father has in any way intervened in the matter since the trafficker is his younger sister, Nosakare said: “It was my father that they gave the Ayelala letter to. My dad does not have anything to say about what is happening. He just said that I should leave the matter for God.

“The woman told me that since she has my picture and details, she wants to kill me before this year comes to an end. She also said among other threats that I will run mad.”

Worried by the magnitude of the threat, Nosakhare subsequently sent her brother to go and arrest the aunt’s sister so that she will write an undertaking that “if anything happens to me she will be held responsible.”

When they got to the police station, she said “the officers said if I pay her money that nothing will happen to me and that I should try and pay her.

“I said that was not how I wanted the case to be handled. I told them that what I wanted was for her to write an undertaking that she would be held responsible in case anything happens to me.”

Following the ceaseless pressure and threat by the aunt, she said: “I am finding my stay here in Dubai very difficult because my aunt (Madam) is giving me too much pressure about the payment.

“I have a lot going in my mind every time about paying back the money. Most of the time, I regret coming to this Dubai because of her.

“She’s not giving me peace. My passport is with one man but my aunt has refused to give me his contact. She said I have nothing to do with the man.

“I still want to remain here in Dubai but I don’t want her to harass me anymore.”

Trafficker declines comment

Efforts to get the reaction of Nosakhare’s aunt who is based in Manchester, England was unsuccessful as she declined response to a WhatsApp message sent to her line. She instantly removed her picture from the DP of her WhatsApp immediately our correspondent introduced himself in a post. The woman was seen standing beside a man with both dressed in pink traditional attire in the deleted DP.

Victim with womb complications relives traumatic experience

It has also been a traumatic experience for Ivy who has been battling with womb related challenges shortly after arriving in Dubai. Her plight was compounded when she got pregnant in the course of carrying out her trade as a sex worker.

Explaining how it happened, she said: “The condom that the client was using mistakenly burst in my body and that resulted in pregnancy. But that was not what caused the challenges that I am facing with my womb. My womb has been disturbing me since I came to this country.

“A doctor came to check and said that my womb is too close. The doctor comes to position my womb for me and also gives me the medication to take.

“If the doctor positions it, after some months, it will come down again. I am still using it to work as it is.”

Aside from the pregnancy and the challenge she has with her womb, Ivy said: “The guy that facilitated my coming here went and reported me to another guy who has been threatening me.

“When the guy asked me to come and see him I told him I would not be able to come because I was not feeling fine. When Solomon Okoduwa of Initiative for Youth Awareness on Migration Development and Reintegration (IYAMIDR) chatted up Emmanuel who is my boss, he complained that I went to report him to the NGOs fighting against human trafficking and wondered why I had to do such.”

Seeking a way out of her predicament, she said: “What I want now is that since Emmanuel who is my boss has said that he doesn’t want the money anymore, his friend who he went to report me to should stop disturbing me.

“The guy said that he would not look for me but that he would one day come in contact with me and he will ‘cast’ me. The guy threatening me is in Dubai but Emmanuel is the one with my passport.

“I was the only one they brought to Dubai on that trip. At the moment, we are 12. Some others went back to Nigeria voluntarily because they said they wouldn’t be able to pay back the money requested by the madams.”

NAPTIP asks victims to write officially

Contacted, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) spokesman Adekoye Vincent, said the embattled victims should write officially to info@naptip.gov.ng for action.

When told that the victims may not be in the right frame of mind to do such, he suggested that our correspondent or an NGO could do so on their behalf. “Address the letter of complaint to the DG,” he said in a response to our correspondent’s inquiry.

Activist knocks NAPTIP, calls for proactive approach to distress calls

A migration activist and Executive Director of Initiative for Youth Awareness on Migration Development and Reintegration (IYAMIDR), Solomon Okoduwa, was bitter about NAPTIP’s approach to the plight of the girls when our correspondent called to find out his level of intervention in their condition. Fuming, Okoduwa said: “The present director general of NAPTIP is not on top of her game at all. Human trafficking, which is supposed to be of utmost concern to the woman, is being swept under the carpet.

“I sent her a message when one of these ladies cried to me. She read the message I sent to her on her personal WhatsApp page but didn’t reply. I tried calling her but got no response.

“This is not the NAPTIP we used to know. During the days of Donli Okar, when you send her a message, she would ask you to give her the girl’s contact. She would speak with the victim and action would be taken immediately.

“She was always responding promptly, but the people that they are redeploying to NAPTIP now are just there to fill political slots.

“If you don’t know the job, quit the job. The agency is a total humanitarian aspect of our society.”

Continuing, he said: “As a woman, you are supposed to be very concerned when womanhood is being debased.

“Somebody said her womb has fallen three times and she is calling for help, the DG of NAPTIP read the message, I sent a voice note of the victim with her strained voice, sent the girl’s contact, but nobody reached out to the girl from NAPTIP headquarters.

“What agency are you then representing? Is it when the girl comes to Nigeria that you want to rescue her, you want to activate your power as NAPTIP? It can’t work in that regard.

“NAPTIP must wake up to their responsibility. They have jurisdiction over every case of sexual exploitation and trafficking all over the world. Once a case is reported, they must take it up to serve as a deterrent to others.

“Even if it doesn’t give the victim immediate leverage, let a signal be sent to the traffickers that NAPTIP is on their trail. That will make the hoodlums to be cautious.

“Just imagine that that girl was to be killed and we sent a message to you and nobody activated anything. What role are you now playing as NAPTIP? Presiding over meetings that are not productive? It is uncalled for.

“The NAPTIP DG must be reported to NACTAL for appropriate action.”

Before reaching out to NAPTIP, Okoduwa said: “I sent the same message to Abike Dabiri. She was concerned, and immediately she got it, she responded and asked me to report the matter to NAPTIP. That is Abike Dabiri in her capacity.

“Tomorrow, NAPTIP will start reeling out their achievements. If you don’t know the job, leave that place.”

As an activist, he said: “We have been advocating for this for a long time. This is not our first time.

“If you are a politician, go and face politics and leave the seat. The right seat must be given to the right person and not people who will leave victims in distress. It is uncalled for and we frown at it.

“When I called the PRO, he said the DG was in a conference. Was she in a conference for almost one week without even answering calls, and my phone showed that she had read through the message but failed to respond.

“Unfortunately, the victim is in a dilemma but the woman that is supposed to feel the pains of other women is not responding.

“Later, she will say she is superintending over an agency that is addressing the menace. You are doing nothing.”

On his intervention in the ladies’ cases, he said: “I intervened when one of the girls was threatened. She didn’t say she would not pay the guy again. Her womb had fallen three times.

“As we speak now, she has an unwanted pregnancy because of the nature of her job. She said that a condom burst in her body and she consequently became pregnant.

“She is presently on home treatment and can’t do anything. All she asked for was that the guy should allow her to get well and when she is well she will pay.

“The guy kept insisting that the girl must pay the said amount of money. After my intervention, the guy has left the scene and allowed the girl to be.

“We have the picture, address and phone number of the guy. This is what NAPTIP is supposed to be doing for trafficking. They are supposed to be working with joint border task force.

“All that NAPTIP supposed to do is to ask them to follow up on the matter. If the guys know that they are following them up, would they threaten the girl again? They would not.

“When you do this, that girl becomes your success story tomorrow.”

The girl, Okoduwa said, is longing to come back to Nigeria, “but it is just that she doesn’t want to come empty handed. If NAPTIP promises to support her when she comes, she will come to Nigeria the next day and every collaborator in this matter will be arrested. Because the girl’s confidence has been built, she will now open up more. (The Nation)

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