I slept with 400 men in five months – 22-year -old trafficking victim

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.

 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.

He said, “This is a human trafficking case in the form of enslavement and prostitution. The victims were forced into sex against their wish. Two of them actually escaped. The whereabouts of one is unknown, but the second victim contacted someone who brought her to the immigration office.

“Parents should be vigilant and wary of those who come for their children asking them to be released in search of greener pastures. We are handing them over to NAPTIP for prosecution. We believe this will serve as a deterrent to those that will want to engage in this useless business.”

First Chibok Girl Rescued, Six Reported Dead

ina Ali Mkeki, one of the Chibok girls infamously kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 has been rescued near Sambisa Forest, government sources and activists have told SaharaReporters.

Amina was found in the Kulakeita area in the company of her Boko Haram husband, and was immediately rescued by vigilantes who handed her over to Nigerian troops in Damboa.

She reportedly told the soldiers that six of the girls have died, while the others have been married off to Boko Haram commanders, and that they were all still in Sambisa Forest as of the time of her rescue.

Our sources say Amina was breastfeeding a baby during her rescue, but it was not immediately clear if the Boko Haram commander caught with her was the father of the baby.

Confirming the development, the Nigerian military said in a text message by Col. SK Usman to SaharaReporters that "Falmata Mbalala" was rescued by Nigerian troops. 

SaharaReporters has confirmed that Amina is from Mbalala community, near Chibok.

The rescued girls is currently in transit on her way to Maiduguri the Borno state capital where the state governor is expected to receive her from Nigerian troops.Chibok girls captured by Boko HaramChibok High school girls are still missing

How we uncovered Saraki’s N375m London property – Witness

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki at Code of Conduct Tribunal

The first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr. Michael Wetkas, continued his testimony on Wednesday, giving details of how his investigative team uncovered a property in London owned by Saraki.

Wetkas, who said he led a team which investigated intelligence reports leading to the charges preferred against Saraki, is a detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

He said under cross-examination by defence lawyer, Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), on Wednesday, that the London property was acquired by Saraki  in 2010 but was not declared in his asset declaration form which he submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau after completing his second term as the governor of Kwara State in 2011.

He said Saraki obtained N375m loan from the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc in 2010 and used it to pay for the London property through a mortgage redemption payment system.

He said there was debit entry of $1.2m on the dollar account in favour of the pounds sterling account on February 10, 2010 and $1m on February 15, 2010.

He alleged that as contained in Count 11 in the charges preferred against the Senate President, the defendant failed to declare in his asset declaration form which he submitted to the CCB in 2011, the N375m loan as his liability and the property which he allegedly used the proceeds of the loan to buy.

Wetkas, who was led by Usoro to read from Saraki’s statements of  account with GTB, traced the movement of the loan disbursed in Saraki’s naira account with its dollar equivalent transferred to his dollar account and finally its pounds sterling equivalent transferred to Saraki’s pounds sterling account.

He said foreign investigative partners “unofficially” disclosed the address of the property as No 8 Whittaker Street, London and that it had a title number NGN802235.

He said the foreign partners also disclosed “unofficially” that Saraki acquired another property with title number NGN 802661at No 7 of the same street in London in 2015.

According to him, his team of investigators, discovered Saraki’s  reason for obtaining the loan in the letter by the GTB offering the N370m loan to the Senate President.

He also said the telex message also revealed that the transfer was for the purchase of a property.

He said, “From the loan document attached to Exhibit 7, you will see the offer letter. It was stated in the offer letter that the loan was for the purchase of property in London.

“We got to be convinced when we saw the telex showing that the money was wired for property; the mortgage redemption was for property. We were convinced based on the offer letter and the remittances shown on the telex.”

He confirmed that the three telexes showing the actual transfer from the pounds sterling account of the Senate President were prepared by the GTB.

He also confirmed that the telex messages only talked about mortgage redemption.

Responding to further questions put to him by Usoro, Wetkas confirmed that “mortgage redemption means money is being refunded for facility that would have been provided for the property.”

He confirmed that he had “little knowledge” about mortgage issues, but he said he knew that mortgage agreement “usually have their terms, the property involved and the person who has the property.”

On why he did not get details and the mortgage agreement on the London property, Wetkas said GTB officials claimed that Saraki did not disclose the details to the bank.

He also said he did not have the title document for the property.

The witness said apart from the telex messages and the offer letter for the loan, he did not have any other document linking Saraki to the said property.

He also said he did not question Saraki on the details of the property during investigation and did not see the mortgage agreement.

He added, “We contacted our foreign partners to help us find out about the  properties the defendant bought in London between 2010 a 2015.

“They confirmed to us that the defendant  bought two properties – one in 2011 and the other in 2015.

“They told us No 8 Whittaker Street, London, with title number NGN802235 was purchased in 2011 and that the second one with title number NGN 802661 which was at No. 7 of the same street was bought in 2015.

“This information was sent to us unofficially. And they promised to send it to us officially soon so that we can tender it.”

He explained that given the international dimension to the case, they needed to go through the governments of the relevant nations before information could be officially obtained from foreign partners.

Usoro also questioned Wetkas on Count 5, in which Saraki was accused of failing to declare his property at  37 A Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and the alleged annual income of N5.5m on the asset.

He said his team discovered that the property was acquired by Saraki through his company, Carlisle Properties Limited while executing a search warrant on the company’s office.

The trial was adjourned till May 25 for further cross-examination of the witness.

‘Farouk Lawan was caught on video collecting $500,000 from Otedola’

Farouk Lawan

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja was yesterday told by a witness that former Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk Lawan, was caught on video receiving $500,000 from Femi Otedola.

The second witness, David Igbodo, who is the Commissioner of Police, Legal Services and Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Investigation Unit told the court that Lawan was caught on video due to a sting operation by the Department of State Security (DSS).

Testifying before Justice Angela Otaluka, Igbodo said after Lawan had collected the $500,000 at the house of Femi Otedola on April 24, 2012, he proceeded to the House of Representatives and removed the name of Zenon Oil that was earlier indicted in a report before the ad hoc committee.

The witness said: “I found out that on April 24, 2012 about 3:47a.m., the defendant was in the house of Otedola and was given the sum of $500, 000 and was caught on video due to the sting operation by the DSS.

“The purpose of the demand and acceptance was to remove the name of Zenon Oil and AP Petroleum from the list of indicted companies.”
Following the case of alleged bribery against Lawan by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Lawan and one Boniface Emenalo are standing trial before Justice Angela Otaluka on a seven-count criminal charge bordering on obtaining $620,000 from Otedola in order to doctor the committee’s report in favour of Zenon Oil and Gas Limited.

During examination by the Prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, the witness further told the court that “On the same April 24, 2012, the defendant, after collecting the sum at the house of Otedola, crossed the name of Zenon Oil earlier indicted in a report before the committee at the House of Representatives.”

Igbodo further said: “The defendant (Lawan) admitted collecting the $500, 000. He admitted he went to the house of Femi Otedola and collected the sum of $500,000, and crossed the name of Zenon from the list.”

The witness also told the court that Lawan admitted collecting the money and said he gave it to another honourable member named Adams Jagaba, chairman House of Representatives Committee on Narcotics and Financial Crimes.

Jagaba was said to have, however, denied ever receiving the $500,000 from Lawan and equally denied that any letter was written to him in respect of the collection.

The witness told the court that he found out that the defendant, after collecting the money which was caught on video, did not report the collection to any security agency either before or after collecting the money. According to Igbodo, Lawan had rather gone straight to the House of Representatives.

The police chief said a search was conducted on the house of Jagaba but no money was found. At this point, a copy of the search warrant was presented before the court.

Igbodo said he found out that after the defendant had collected the $500,000 in the early morning of April 24, 2012 which was five days later, he went to the chairman of EFCC and reported that some marketers were offering him a planeload of dollars. He, however, said Farouk failed to inform the EFCC that he had earlier collected $500,000 from Otedola.

According to the witness, Lawan had said that the EFCC asked him to come back if any attempt was made to give him the planeload of dollars.
David also told the court that his findings revealed that the first prosecution witness, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, who was Secretary to the ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy, had also visited the house of Mr. Femi Otedola on April 24, 2012 at about 9:10a.m. and was caught on video collecting $100,000. I found out that the $100,000 he collected from Otedola was given to the defendant,” he said.

Igbodo also told the court that he found out that the defendant could not refund the sum of $600,000 made up of the $500,000 earlier collected and the $100,000 collected through Emenalo when the police demanded it from him, even though he had made an undertaking to produce it.

“In search for the $600,000, a search was conducted in the house of the defendant on June 15, 2012 where the sum of $10,000 only was recovered,” Igbodo said.

The Criminal Form D Search Warrant used to conduct a search on the house of the defendant where the said $10,000 was recovered, and a diplomatic passport issued on April 24, 2009 (though expired as at 2014), were tendered before the court.

But when the $10,000 obtained during the search was tendered, defence counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), objected to its admissibility, arguing that the $100,000 has nothing to do with the weight attached to it. Ozekhome also argued that the prosecution had not shown from what custody the money had emerged.Awomolo, at this juncture, applied for withdrawal of the money, stating that the defence counsel was going to waste time.

Ozekhome said it was too late to withdraw the money as issues had already been joined to it. Awomolo, however, argued that issues would have been joined if he had replied and on point of law.

Justice Otaluka, after admitting the diplomatic passport and the search warrant document as exhibits PWD2D and PWD2E respectively, ruled against the admissibility of the $10,000.

Statements of the witness with the EFCC dated June 20, June 15, June 20, July 11, July 16, July 19 and September 25 were admitted into evidence as Exhibits G, H, J, K, L, L (1), and M respectively.

Ozekhome had earlier prayed the court for adjournment for adequate time and facilities to enable him to properly prepare his defence, which was not granted.Adjournment was, however, granted after Awomolo had prayed the court for it.Justice Angela Otaluka therefore granted adjournment for May 30, 2016.