BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A 28-year-old female brothel operator, Ifeoma Sunday, also known as Chidinma, has been sentenced to two months imprisonment for buying young girls, trafficking and forcing them into prostitution.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Osun State Command, arrested Chidinma after buying two girls and moving them down to Osogbo for use as commercial sex workers.
The defendant was prosecuted by the NAPTIP before a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo on offences bordering on procuring, hoarding and trafficking of girls for prostitution.
The NAPTIP prosecuting counsel in the state, A. O. Ademodi, told the court that Chidinma procured, deceived and trafficked one Ndubuise Chidera from Enugu State to Osun State.
Ademodi added that the defendant also trafficked another teenager, named Umahi Amarachi, to the state also for trafficking.
The defendant was said to have paid the sum of N20, 000 for each of the girls.
The charge brought against her read, “You, Ifeoma Sunday, a.k.a Chidinma, 28 years, of Jumakai, Ewele Street, Ayepe, Osogbo, Osun State, on or about the month of October, 2022, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, procured, deceived and trafficked one Ndubuise Chidera, (female), 17 years of age, of Amaekenu Street, Oduma, Enugu, Enugu State, to Osogbo, Osun State for prostitution and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16(2) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 and punishable under the same Section of the Act.
“You, Ifeoma Sunday, a.k.a Chidinma, 28 years, of Jumakai, Ewele Street, Ayepe, Osogbo, Osun State, on or about the month of October, 2022, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, procured, trafficked and harboured one Umahi Amarachi (female), 19 years of Idemiri, Okwa, Anambra State (and) Ndubuise Chidera, (female), 17 years of age, of Amaekenu Street, Oduma, Enugu, Enugu State, to Osogbo, Osun State for prostitution and thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 13(2) (a-c) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 and punishable under the same Section of the Act.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the allegations without being legally represented. NAPTIP, however, argued against Chidinma.
Justice Ayodele Emmanuel found the defendant guilty as charged and convicted her to 2 months imprisonment. She was also ordered to pay the sum of N150, 000 for each of the girls that she trafficked.
The judge said that the period of her imprisonment should start counting from the day of her arrest.
The Point correspondent reported that child prostitution and human trafficking are now on the rise in the state.
Recent checks showed that most brothels in Osogbo, Ilesa and Ile-Ife now engage underage girls in commercial sex work.
The Point reliably gathered that some commercial sex workers in the state now travel to the South East and the Northern part of the country to ‘buy’ underage girls to use for prostitution in Osun, Oyo and other neighbouring states.
The modus operandi of most of the human traffickers is to lure unsuspecting parents in rural communities to release their female children to them purportedly for job opportunities in the cities, unawares to them that their children would end up in prostitution and exploitation.
While Chidinma was arrested in Osogbo, a male suspect, simply identified as Alfa, was apprehended in Iwo town on a similar account. Alfa was reportedly arrested after allegedly selling his 15-year-old-daughter to a trafficking cartel in Libya as a sex slave.
Corroborating the findings, a human rights activist in the state, Citizen Lola Wey, said that she notified the Department of State Security when she discovered that the girls were being used for prostitution.
She said, “I reported the cases to the DSS in Osogbo. The DSS then informed NAPTIP of necessary actions. At the end of our efforts, we discovered that a 17-year-old-girl was trafficked from Enugu State to Ogbomoso, Oyo State under the guise of going to learn hairdressing or working in a beer parlour but was forced into prostitution when she got to Ogbomoso. After some time, she was sold to one Chidinma, a prostitute and a human trafficking receiver in Osogbo.
“She also trafficked another girl from Anambra to Osogbo for the same business. The girl is said to be 19-year-old. She was rescued and currently in the custody of NAPTIP.
“Also, one Alfa in Iwo, Osun State, attempted to traffic his 15-year-old-girl to an unknown person in Libya. The trip to Libya was, however, intercepted by some good Samaritans in Kano and the 15-year-old-girl was sent back to Iwo. The father, still determined to traffic the 15-year-old-girl, had been making desperate efforts to convince the girl spiritually to complete the trip to Libya.
“Luckily, we were able to rescue a 17-year-old-girl and also arrested her mistress who confessed to buying the girl for just N20, 000 in October.
What the girl has experienced is worse than what our ancestors who were sold into slavery experienced. The 15-year-old-girl, who was sold to a receiver in Libya by her biological father, has been rescued and her father has been apprehended by NAPTIP.”
