A 19 -year – old girl Bisirat Lamidi who was rescued
from a brothel in Tripoli Libya is undergoing counselling to relieve
her of the trauma she experienced in the hands of her traffickers....
Basirat, a Senior Secondary 2 student was lured to Libya by a cartel in
Abeokuta with a promise that she will gain employment in the United
States of America but her sweet dreams of a blissful life in US was cut
short as her traffickers moved her hundreds of kilometers by road
through the desert to Libya to work as a prostitute.
Narrating how she
was trafficked, Basirat said “ One of my parents’ former tenant in Oyo
state, Amoke Yemi called me and said her brother is in America and asked
if I want to come to America. I said I don’t mind.
She told me that she can arrange my travelling papers. I was excited and informed my parents. My parents spoke with her on the phone and she assured them that she can hasten my travelling to America. She told my parents that she has a friend who can handle all my travelling documents and that was how she linked me up with Alhaji Muritala Sanni. Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me to come to National Theatre Iganmu with N500,000 . I did as they said and I came to Lagos. I met a lady called Hafsat who wanted to travel. I also met Alhaji’s wife Alhaja Lateefat, her mother, Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole and Amoke Yemi at the National Theatre Iganmu.
I ended up paying them N520,000 my parents gave me . That was in December 18th 2015. They said they will assist me to travel by air to America but it was all a lie. Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me that we had to travel that same day. That was how I and the other lady Hafsat were moved into a bus from Lagos to Kano. I asked if we are not travelling by air but Alhaji Sanni said we will travel by road before he will put us in a plane. So that was how we travelled by night bus to Kano. As soon as we arrived in Kano, they handed me and Hafsat to an agent to take us to Niger. They call the agent a burger and what he does is to push us to the next travelling point. We started travelling in a hilux van through the desert.
We travelled for about 11 days and we got to Agadeshe. There were alot of other girls in the van and as the journey became difficult, you will see girls falling off the van into the sand dunes and the driver will come out of the van and shout ‘Allahu Akbau’. They will not assist the girls that fell by the way side but will continue moving. The driver will say the girls have died and sand has covered their bodies. I was shocked and horrified and pleaded with them to allow me go back to Nigeria but they refused. I was given garri, groundnut, five litres of water, a head warmer and coat. The Nigerien soldiers who met us in the desert beat us with horse whip and collected our provision and money.
They raped some girls in front of us. These are girls who do not have money to settle them but they did not rape me. When we finally got to Libya,I saw more than 100 girls in a room. The house belongs to Alhaji and his wife. He told me I have to become a prostitute . I refused and decided not to eat . After much appeal to Alhaji Muritala and his wife, they assured me that I can leave but should pay N2million before I can go free. I found a way to reach my parents. I told them to rescue me from the cartel and my parents contacted Barrister Ojay Akinwale of the Alliance of Rights Defenders to come to my rescue. Alhaja Lateefat has a brother in Tripoli called AZ who is in charge of the girls.
His job is to prepare the girls for prostitution. AZ tried to persuade me to accept my fate and work for my release but I refused. He told me that they usually give soft tissues like facial wipes to girls to insert in their vigina so they don’t feel pains or contract diseases but I learnt from the other girls that the tissue can get stuck inside a woman’s body and she can die. They said many young virgin girls had died after they used the tissue and it got stuck in thier stomach. All the stories I heard made me to appeal to my parents the more to rescue me. Escaping from the brothel is not easy because the OPC men working as security for the cartel are on ground monitoring us.
I don’t know what the Human Rights lawyer told them and Alhaja ordered that Hafsat and I should return to Nigeria. Hafsat was my guardian and she made sure nobody molested me. We were treated like slaves and fed with flour and oil only in the evenings. The girls are made to sleep with 5 to 10 men in a day at 10 Dina (N1000) per round and 50 Dina (N5000) for all night sex . They have quack nurses that abort pregnancies for the girls. Alhaja had a roll of shops which serves as Boutique, hairdressing Salon,and a tailoring ship infront of the brothel disguising the brothel from preying eyes. However, due to the pressure from Nigeria, Alhaja paid for our flight from Libya to Ghana and we travelled by road to Nigeria.
When we got to Seme border, we appealed to the driver to allow us to alight as we were instructed by the lawyer but the driver refused. Unknown to us, Alhaja had marked us for death but Prince Tunji Oshokoya was already on ground at Seme border with police men and they forced the bus to stop because the policemen threatened to shot the driver. That was how we were rescued. I can describe my experience as horrific. I will never be tempted to travel out of the country. I feel sorry for the other girls still in custody of the trafficking ring in Libya.
She told me that she can arrange my travelling papers. I was excited and informed my parents. My parents spoke with her on the phone and she assured them that she can hasten my travelling to America. She told my parents that she has a friend who can handle all my travelling documents and that was how she linked me up with Alhaji Muritala Sanni. Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me to come to National Theatre Iganmu with N500,000 . I did as they said and I came to Lagos. I met a lady called Hafsat who wanted to travel. I also met Alhaji’s wife Alhaja Lateefat, her mother, Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole and Amoke Yemi at the National Theatre Iganmu.
I ended up paying them N520,000 my parents gave me . That was in December 18th 2015. They said they will assist me to travel by air to America but it was all a lie. Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me that we had to travel that same day. That was how I and the other lady Hafsat were moved into a bus from Lagos to Kano. I asked if we are not travelling by air but Alhaji Sanni said we will travel by road before he will put us in a plane. So that was how we travelled by night bus to Kano. As soon as we arrived in Kano, they handed me and Hafsat to an agent to take us to Niger. They call the agent a burger and what he does is to push us to the next travelling point. We started travelling in a hilux van through the desert.
We travelled for about 11 days and we got to Agadeshe. There were alot of other girls in the van and as the journey became difficult, you will see girls falling off the van into the sand dunes and the driver will come out of the van and shout ‘Allahu Akbau’. They will not assist the girls that fell by the way side but will continue moving. The driver will say the girls have died and sand has covered their bodies. I was shocked and horrified and pleaded with them to allow me go back to Nigeria but they refused. I was given garri, groundnut, five litres of water, a head warmer and coat. The Nigerien soldiers who met us in the desert beat us with horse whip and collected our provision and money.
They raped some girls in front of us. These are girls who do not have money to settle them but they did not rape me. When we finally got to Libya,I saw more than 100 girls in a room. The house belongs to Alhaji and his wife. He told me I have to become a prostitute . I refused and decided not to eat . After much appeal to Alhaji Muritala and his wife, they assured me that I can leave but should pay N2million before I can go free. I found a way to reach my parents. I told them to rescue me from the cartel and my parents contacted Barrister Ojay Akinwale of the Alliance of Rights Defenders to come to my rescue. Alhaja Lateefat has a brother in Tripoli called AZ who is in charge of the girls.
His job is to prepare the girls for prostitution. AZ tried to persuade me to accept my fate and work for my release but I refused. He told me that they usually give soft tissues like facial wipes to girls to insert in their vigina so they don’t feel pains or contract diseases but I learnt from the other girls that the tissue can get stuck inside a woman’s body and she can die. They said many young virgin girls had died after they used the tissue and it got stuck in thier stomach. All the stories I heard made me to appeal to my parents the more to rescue me. Escaping from the brothel is not easy because the OPC men working as security for the cartel are on ground monitoring us.
I don’t know what the Human Rights lawyer told them and Alhaja ordered that Hafsat and I should return to Nigeria. Hafsat was my guardian and she made sure nobody molested me. We were treated like slaves and fed with flour and oil only in the evenings. The girls are made to sleep with 5 to 10 men in a day at 10 Dina (N1000) per round and 50 Dina (N5000) for all night sex . They have quack nurses that abort pregnancies for the girls. Alhaja had a roll of shops which serves as Boutique, hairdressing Salon,and a tailoring ship infront of the brothel disguising the brothel from preying eyes. However, due to the pressure from Nigeria, Alhaja paid for our flight from Libya to Ghana and we travelled by road to Nigeria.
When we got to Seme border, we appealed to the driver to allow us to alight as we were instructed by the lawyer but the driver refused. Unknown to us, Alhaja had marked us for death but Prince Tunji Oshokoya was already on ground at Seme border with police men and they forced the bus to stop because the policemen threatened to shot the driver. That was how we were rescued. I can describe my experience as horrific. I will never be tempted to travel out of the country. I feel sorry for the other girls still in custody of the trafficking ring in Libya.
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