By Matthew Johnson
LAGOS—Emotions ran high at the Lagos State Police Command yesterday, when a 16-year-old girl, Chidinma, narrated how she was allegedly trafficked from Imo State to Lagos and forced into prostitution for four months, during which she was made to sleep with 30 men daily, beaten repeatedly, and denied payment.
The teenager, who said she was originally learning baking in Imo State, told journalists that a woman she trusted lured her to Lagos with the promise of a job.
According to the Delta State-born girl, “She never told me the work I was coming to do. She only said, ‘You are coming to serve in the office.’ Upon my arrival at a tall building inside Balogun market in Lagos Island, my madam removed my clothes and left me only with pants. There were other young ladies there. She told us to stand by the door and dragged men inside. She gave me a blue drug that made me disoriented. I slept with no fewer than 30 men daily. But sometimes, 60 men in one day.
“The men paid between N5,000 and N10,000 per session. But my madam usually gave me N1,000 or N1,500, which I used to buy food. Any time I told the men to use protection and they refused, they would report me to my madam. She would drag me into a room and beat me with an iron rod until I bled. She punched me severely in the stomach, knowing fully well that I had an operation.
“There was a time she punched my eye. For one week, I could not see with this eye,” she said, pointing to her left eye.
The escape
Her escape came after a particularly violent night. Chidinma alleged her madam slammed her head against a wall when she refused to sleep with more men that particular day, due to pains in her private part.
She said: “That day, a man lodged I and another girl. I escaped from there because my madam threatened me with a knife because I complained of pains in my private part. I found my way to Costain, from where a man I met inside a bus took me to Surulere, where I met a woman selling pop corn that took me to Bode Thomas Division.
“When the DPO saw me, she said they should take me to the hospital for treatment. The DPO was surprised I was 15 years old. She said I looked 21. I am not the only girl working there. There are other girls there. I could not reach out to my people because I didn’t have a phone. Other girls’ phones were seized because they didn’t want them to reach out to their relatives.
“I am tired. I want to go back to my catering work. I am almost done with it,” she said.
She lied —Suspect
Meanwhile, the woman accused of trafficking Chidinma, Princess Andrew, 28, denied the allegations.
Andrew, also from Delta State, admitted she knew the teenager but insisted that the girl was aware of what she was coming to do.
She said: “I am not anybody’s madam. I work on my own as a sex-worker since February. Nobody works for me. I merely assisted the young woman by connecting her with accommodation after she arrived from Delta State.
“She lied about her age. She will be 21 years this year. I knew her back in Delta State when she was pregnant. She collected my money and I used my cane to wipe her.”
CP visits brothel
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, personally visited the building where the young girls were lodged in Balogun, accompanied by journalists, yesterday.
Briefing journalists, Tijani said: “The illicit operation came to light after a good Samaritan rescued a severely injured victim found wandering near the Surulere area of the state and brought her to the Bode Thomas Police Station.
He said the syndicate targets vulnerable minors between the ages of 13 and 15.
“While investigations indicate the cartel has trafficked about 30 girls in total, operatives have successfully arrested two suspects and rescued 13 underage girls,” the CP said.
