Ekiti State Police Command has paraded two suspects, who allegedly dropped the deputy governor, Professor Kolapo Olusola’s name to con unsuspecting victims to Libya slave camp.

They were paraded by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mr Julius Okoro.

The duo, Dada Ogundare, and prophetess Omoseeke Komolafe, had, allegedly deceived the parents of the trafficked girls, saying that Professor Olusola had given some party members four slots to travel to Dubai.

Parents of three girls from Ekiti State, who were allegedly given three slots to travel to Dubai but ended in a slave camp in Libya, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen during the parade.

Meanwhile, the state government has written to the NTA Ado-Ekiti, demanding a retraction of the story aired by the station, during their 7:00 p.m. news bulletin.

In the 13-paragraph letter dated January 4, 2018 and signed by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Kolapo Kolade, it stated “without mincing words, the said publication which you knew or reasonably ought to know to be false was solely and maliciously aired to bring to disrepute and public ridicule the person and high office of his Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Professor Kolapo Olusola and which you have succeeded in doing.

“His Excellency has therefore requested that we demand from you that: ‘You write a letter of apology; publish a retraction of the said offensive, malicious and defamatory publication and give the same publicity given to the said offensive, malicious and defamatory publication; to stop further publication of the malicious and disparaging falsehood; All of the above must be done within 72 hours of your receipt of this letter.”

Ogundare was paraded alongside prophetess Komolafe, who allegedly collected money from the parents of the victims.

The suspects claimed that they only assisted the young ladies, one of whom was pregnant, to seek employment outside the country not knowing that they would end up as slaves.

The victims left Nigeria on November 25 by road, as against by air as being earlier assured that where they were going to Dubai, but taken to Libya where they were sold as slaves.

The parents explained that in their attempt to bring their children back home, the traffickers in Libya demanded N1.2 million from them.

One of the parents, Mrs Margaret Olorunfemi, revealed that both Prophetess Komolafe and herself are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the same ward with deputy governor in Ikere-Ekiti.

Mrs Olorunfemi disclosed that Prophetess Komolafe told her daughter that the deputy governor had been given four slots for children of party members in his ward to travel to Dubai, adding that they were told to provide N150,000 to facilitate the trip.

She said that she was worried when her daughter did not communicate with her daughter, adding that she eventually spoke with her on December 10 when she affirmed that she was in a slave camp in Libya.

“My child called on phone that the prophetess had sold her into slavery that we should get N1.2 million before they can be freed from slavery,” Olorunfemi said

Another Ikere woman whose daughter was trapped in Libyan slave camp, Mrs. Feyisayo Adedayo, revealed that her daughter is pregnant.

“My daughter, Ayomiotan, spoke with me on the phone that they went through the desert and not by flight as they were promised.

“I don’t have N1.2 million to send to them to free my daughter. She is my only girl and my last born; I reported the case to the police station in Ikere. I want my daughter back because I don’t want her to die in the slave camp,” she stated.

Another parent of Libya slavery from Ikere, Mrs. Bukola Bamise, said she was shocked to learn that her daughter had been sold as a slave.

The suspected trafficker, Ogundare, told reporters that “she contacted the prophetess to help her find girls interested in jobs in Libya. He claimed he didn’t collect money from the victims.”

Ogundare explained that his wife and younger sister are in Libya, adding that she told the prophetess to inform the girls’ parents of their destination.

“I didn’t collect one naira from anybody, I have so far taken four persons to Libya while madam (prophetess) had taken nine persons to Libya,” she stated

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, however, has warned parents against allowing their children to embark on questionable trips.

He said: “The girls were trafficked to Libya on the pretext that they were taking them to Dubai. Information reached their parents that they are suffering and they had been sold out in the slave camp in Libya.”

•Text courtesy of Nigerian Tribune.

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