Most of them said they didn't know they would be used as
sex workers in Ibadan. They came separately. One of them said she started
selling beer for the woman who owns the brothel when she had nowhere to go
again after her friend had abandoned her there. But had to join the game in
other to be able to pay her Madam’s N1000 a week room fee.
Aside that, they all had one thing in common, they have all
lost a parent each and the other is old and in the village. Read their story
after the cut and how detectives arrested Madam Helen and her husband after
warning them to desist from employing young girls for sex. Read the story after
the cut.
Detectives from Anti-Human Trafficking section of the State
Criminal Investigation Department, Oyo State Police Command stormed Sharp
Corner Hotel, Orita Aperin, Ibadan on Wednesday February 26 and rescued four
girls being used for prostitution, two of who were discovered to be under-aged.
A couple, Mr Temitope and Mrs Helen Falusi, who were running the brothel, were
arrested.
Briefing journalists on Friday at the police headquarters at
Eleyele, Ibadan, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa said that
the command received information that the woman and her husband were bringing
the young girls from Benin, Edo State to her brothel in Ibadan for
prostitution.
“Our detectives went to the brothel at about 5p.m. on
Wednesday, February 26 and rescued the victims. They confessed that they were
being exploited and made to sleep with different men for a fee, out of which
they would pay Helen a fee as rent,” the commissioner said, adding that though
the girls gave ages that were above 18, it was discernible that at least two of
the four victims were below 18; with the age of the youngest put at 14 or 15
years.
Speaking with Crime Reports, Mr Falusi (45) from Ado Ekiti,
Ekiti State said: “I got married to Helen in 2007 and we have one daughter. She
had been running the brothel before I married her but because of the love I
have for her, and the fact that I didn’t have the wherewithal to change the
business, I did not stop her. But I told her to heed the warning of the
anti-human trafficking section of the CID that she should not harbour
under-aged girls as sex workers.
“When the two girls said to be under-aged came on Sunday and
Monday respectively, I noticed that they were young, so I told her to send them
back to Benin. We were to send the girls back on Thursday when detectives came
to arrest us on Wednesday evening. I don’t run the brothel but I am together
with my wife. When the girls come around, they always tell us they are above 18
years.”
Edo-born Helen Falusi also stated that “I started the
brothel in 2006. I rented the place and I operated a beer parlour along with
the brothel. I don’t allow under-aged girls because of the warning handed over
to me by detectives from State CID. Immediately the girls came and I saw they
were young, I made up my mind to send them back to Edo State. They were sent to
me by their people.
“I don’t collect the money they make from them. All I take
is N1000 rent every Monday and if they don’t get customers, they beg me to bear
with them. They usually know they are coming to ‘hustle’ because that is the
question I always put across to them when they first arrive. They would reply
that they are aware of what they are in Ibadan to do. One of them is even a
mother of three.”
Crime Reports also spoke to the victims. Below are the
responses of two of them:
Princess Igbinedion
I was told I am 20 years old and I was given the name ‘Osas’
when I came to the brothel. My father is dead but my mother is in our village
in Edo State. I came to Ibadan on Sunday. Back at the village, I went to a
friend’s party where I met a young man. He asked if I was interested in
travelling to the city and I answered in affirmative.
He never told me I was coming for prostitution; he said the
person he would take me to runs a beer parlour. When I got to Ibadan on Sunday,
February 23 and called the number I was given, someone came to pick me at the
motor park. In the evening, I noticed that everyone was putting on skimpy
dresses. I was told to go and take my bath and dress up in the skimpy dresses I
was given but I did not. I could not even come outside. I slapped a young man
who entered my room to have sex with me.
However, one man eventually slept with me and he gave me
N1,500. Aunty Helen had already told me that I would be paying N1000 every
Monday as rent fee. She also has a book where she writes what we make.
Favour Nosakhare
I am known as Tina in the brothel. I am 23 years old but I
don’t know the year I was born. My friend, Jennifer, introduced me to
prostitution. She told me there is a brothel where a beer parlour is being
operated. I agreed to follow her to Ibadan but after taking me to Aunty Helen’s
place, she left me and I did not see her again.
Aunty Helen told me to be assisting her to sell beer and I
started working as a commercial sex worker. I was doing the job because I have
no father again and there was no money to even pay as apprenticeship fee where
I was learning fashion designing. My customers used to pay N1000 for short time
and between N1100 and N1500 if I am engaged till day break. We don’t allow our
customers to have sex with us without protecting themselves with condom.
The Commissioner of Police said that investigation would
continue, after which the girls would be handed over to NAPTIP for
rehabilitation.
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