Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Victim Who Was Forced Into ''OPIO'' Works Talks About Being Poisoned And Hypnotised

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Victim Who Was Forced Into ''OPIO'' Works Talks About Being Poisoned And Hypnotised

Miss Peju Akins (pseudonym) was offered a poisoned chalice in a Lagos church in January, 2015; she embraced it hook, line and sinker!



A lady she met during Sunday service painted the rosy picture of Libya, with the streets of Tripoli, “flowing with milk and honey,’’ and the promise that after making money in the North African country, she would easily migrate to Europe.
“I’m lucky to be back in Nigeria alive; many died during the one-month trip through the desert, especially between Agadez in Niger Republic and the Libyan capital, Tripoli. 

My ‘burger’ (trafficker) succeeded in convincing another lady to make the trip with us from Lagos. We were seeking better life, but it was a regrettable trip and a waste of almost two years of my life.’’

Peju, 26, holds a National Diploma (ND) in business administration from a polytechnic in Nigeria’s South-West. She says the first leg of the ill-fated trip, from Lagos to Kano, was fun. Then the next call between Kano and Agadez in Niger Republic, a distance of 715 kilometres, was stressful as they had no travelling documents.


“Border officials exploited us; checkpoints mounted by Nigerien gendarmes did the same. But, the horror started in Agadez. Any semblance of a road network ended at Agadez; all I could see was endless sand dunes like I have seen water at the ocean shore in Lagos. The heat and the dust were horrible.


“In addition, we were considered as mere merchandise over which people haggled for prices that could favour them. We spent five days in Agadez because the trip through the desert starts from there only on Mondays.
“In Agadez, our group met hundreds of black people from across the ECOWAS sub-region, assembled for the suicidal desert trip to Libya.’’


According to Peju, only four-wheel-drive, double-cabin pick-up vans are being used for the desert trip, with each taking between 20 and 30 migrants.
She says they were loaded in the cargo cabin of each pick-up van, with most of their bodies hanging out of the van, each hapless traveller holding a stick tied to a rope in the cabin, to stop them from falling off during the bumpy ride.



“Between Agadez and Qatroun, (in Niger Republic) and Sabha in the middle of Libya, we were kidnapped many times by militia groups that raped some of the ladies. There was so much shooting, though nobody in my vehicle was hit.
“We were told of rotting corpses littering some areas of the desert, but our driver must have avoided such spots so as not to further scare us. Each kidnapping meant being locked up in ‘prison’ until ransom was paid. My human trafficker saw to the negotiations.’’


Peju finally got to Tripoli, after covering about 3,500 kilometres of road, mostly uncharted desert.
“I thought my nightmare was over when we got to Tripoli; little did I know it had just begun. I and my fellow church member were allowed to scrub off the smell and dirt of the desert in a bathroom, and a change of dress, before being driven to a large compound they call ‘connection house’.


“The ‘connection house’ is the alias for a brothel. Without much hesitation, two elderly ladies, a Yoruba and an Ibo from Nigeria, casually asked if we would like to start with ‘one-round’, ‘short time’ or ‘all-night’ patrons’’.
She says she later understood that ‘one-round’ means having sex with a man once for the equivalent of N1,000 in Libya dinar, ‘short-time’ means three hours of sex for N3,000 equivalent, while ‘all-night’ means copulation from dusk to dawn for N6,000.


“We both protested that we would not do ‘asewo’ (commercial sex work) and that our ‘burger’ (trafficker) only promised to get us housemaid jobs. The next five days was hell as the two of us were locked up in a room, without food and water, and constantly beaten up.


“Close to death on the fifth day, they called in a nurse to clean us up, feed us and allow us to change clothes. Then they told us we had to contact our families in Nigeria to wire N500,000 each to them or we would be drugged and forced into prostitution.’’
Peju says they were then allowed to have a mobile phone and alerted families back home in Nigeria of their predicament.


“The Yoruba woman spoke with my father in Lagos and in tears, he promised to send the money within a week. My father begged them not to harm or force me into prostitution.

“My co-traveller was the first to control (wire) money from Nigeria. My daddy finally sent my ransom — which he borrowed here and there.
“The matron then converted me to her salesgirl. I was in charge of selling brandy and whisky, condoms, diapers, creams and other materials the ‘asewos’ needed for their carnal jobs.

“Yes, there are no babies in need of diapers, but the absorbent in them were being removed, creamed and forced down the private parts of the commercial sex workers to protect their womb (cervix) from being ruptured by their clients.’’

Peju says the absorbents were usually ‘popped’ out by the girls after sex, washed and creamed for reuse. She says this is because the men coming to sleep with them usually take sex enhancers that prolong the act and often bruise the girls to the extent that they bleed from their private parts.

“The men who come to the brothel use cocaine, ‘tramadol’, hashish (the Arab equivalent of marijuana), and many other illicit drugs, so that they can punish the girls who stay four in a room, separated by mere curtains.

“I spent five months in the brothel, but not into prostitution. I was sleeping on a bare floor all the while, disturbed by the groaning and crying of the sex workers.
“One night, a girl was screaming — more than usual — and the matrons have to burst into her bed-space. An over-drugged man was stuck to her like dogs in mating!


“He had to be physically ‘removed’ from the girl and his money refunded! Another girl ran mad and was defecating everywhere and putting the mess in her mouth. Her legs and face were swollen; she was always murmuring. She later died and was secretly taken to the desert for burial in an unmarked shallow grave. Her death was not even relayed to her family in Nigeria.’’


Peju left her vendor’s job at the brothel to become a khaddamah (a maid) and she was paid the equivalent of N60,000 a month by a kind Arab family.
“But my main problem was the language barrier. Even though I could then understand and speak a few Arabic words, I was making mistakes when sent on errand within the house. I was with the family for about six months as maid; I saved most of my salary.


“I then became a seller of African (mostly Nigerian) foodstuffs, such as beans, gari, seasoning cubes, etc, being ferried across the desert by Nigerian businessmen from Kano. I was sharing an apartment with a Nigerian family.’’
However, she finally reconsidered her stay in Libya when her apartment was raided one night by gun-toting Libyan officials and all the residents locked up in jail for being illegal immigrants.


“The raid happened when I had started making money; I was free and I even had a Yoruba boyfriend, an engineer, who was always going to Malta (Europe) by boat to fix doors, POP ceilings and other building materials.
“We were put in jail and after some days, asked to pay the equivalent of N100,000 each to secure our freedom. I’ve had enough; so, refused to pay and told them I wanted to go back to Nigeria. From then on, they never allowed me to get back to my apartment and properties.’’


Peju says the Libyan immigration allowed her to purchase temporary travelling documents and escorted her to the airport to board a plane for Niamey in Niger Republic.
“All the money my friends were able to raise while I was in jail was spent on travelling documents and the one-way flight to Niamey. I spent two days at the motor park in Niamey before I met a kind Nigerian man who gave me 25,000 francs (CFA) with which I came back to Lagos.


“The jogging trouser and blouse I wore to bed the night I was arrested were all the possession I came back with in mid-November 2016. Giant mosquitoes feasted on me so much in Libyan prison that I was pockmarked as if I had measles.’’

Peju never contemplated being smuggled across the Mediterranean Ocean to Europe again because her eyes had opened to the mass death suffered by those who dared.

“I am appealing to Nigerian youngsters to dissuade their minds from planning to get to Europe through Libya, especially taking the desert routes.
“Yes, there is more money in Libya than Nigeria for hustlers, so is death in the desert or in the Mediterranean Sea. Besides, the suffering the girls go through in the brothels is worse than death.’’

Unlike migrants’ drowning in the Mediterranean that is often documented by European navies and coastguards, death through shooting, starvation and dehydration in the vast desert is largely unaccounted for. Only a small fraction of those who dare will make it to Europe.


Apart from the militia elements of Islamic State, al Qaeda and others involved in the ongoing Libyan civil wars, armed Touaregs and Berber groups use the desert routes for kidnapping and ransom collection.

Some of the kidnapped migrant males are often sold into slave labour, forced to join the militias or get killed. The ladies among them, according to Wikipedia, can be converted to wives of bandits or fighters, and even sold as sex slaves to owners of brothels. A captured migrant is a slave to the desert warlord who got him or her.

The Sahara desert is in a “state of nature’’ and might is right. AK-47 assault rifle is king. Travel through the desert as “economic migrants’’ is a perilous and unworthy risk.
from NAN




*Compared t the Economic hardship in Nigeria,some people will still prefer this route after reading this.I hope the government addresses this trend soon.we need more jobs in Nigeria,a better environment and good education.

Sad story!

39 comments:

  1. Long story mbok. After all been said and done, there's joy in being content with what you have.


    I thank God for your life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hmmmmmmm things people pass through to make it in life. What a pity that she fell for the trap set by a church member.

    A church made up of people with characters like goats, rats, sheep, mosquitoes, pepeye, tolotolo orishirishi all joined to worship God.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i know a woman who keeps complaining that her 17years old daughter who is somewhere in Africa wont send her money... thank God Edo was not mentioned this time

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very sad story! People will not listen.
    A lot of people are returning back home from Europe while some Nigerians are still trying so hard to enter the continent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Libya is not Europe......it's an African country

      Delete
  5. Nawaooo! If na like this, make Una live me for naija abeg..

    ReplyDelete
  6. The diapers part got me puking. What a life? Ain't they better off selling recharge cards or bagged water on the streets of Nigeria?

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is well. She went through alot. Many Nigerian females won't even listen to this lady's experience. They will still go.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stella please Nigeria is not so bad that one would prefer this nightmare abeg. Everyday we read crazy stories, how do they do the diaper ish, won't it be harmful to them later in life?

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG!!This is so saaad.For quite a long time I have been looking out to read this sort of writeup;after a friend of mine who resides in Benin told me that almost every compound in his neighbourhood have someone mostly girls that have travelled to Libya. Even the parents tend to encourage them to travel so they can make money for the family...Gooosh,its so unbelievable,so this is what they pass through. Is it not better to Work hard in your country,it might take a while but you will surely make it. Mstewww what can I say Naija go better.



    Alter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liar Liar Anon.
      Almost every compound ke!?
      Una too lie. Did you see where Benin was mentioned there?

      Delete
    2. Every compound in his neighbourhood. That can be about 10 houses. Calm down!

      Delete
  10. after three years as a BV...finally I commented... for the first time

    ReplyDelete
  11. See sufferness! Kai!some people won't change their mind even after reading this especially the part where she mentioned there is more money in Libya if you are a hustler

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Giant mosquitoes feasted on me so much in Libyan prison that I was pockmarked as if I had measles"



    “Yes, there are no babies in need of diapers, but the absorbent in them were being removed, creamed and forced down the private parts of the commercial sex workers to protect their womb (cervix) from being ruptured by their clients.’’

    what tha Fuck!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. After taking cocaine or tramadol or shisha??? They end up punishing the girls to the extent that they get bruised or blood rushing down from their punani...No be force to make money...Even tho some girls love sex the rough way...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Reading this was like torture.

    ReplyDelete
  15. All I can say is wow! So tramadol is a bad medicine? I know of someone that takes it a lot ooh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its a pain killer....its very very addictive....an anti-depressant it is..

      Delete
    2. It is a strong pain killer used for severe pains eg operation, gun shot victims etc. It has side effects and doctors don't recommend tramadol anyhow.

      I hope your friend does not run mad one day? You better advise him/her.

      Delete
    3. How many Europeans or Americans goes to Libya for better life? God, please fix Nigeria's economy IJN, Amen. May God heal this woman and others who had gone thru this kind of torture. This is a painful story!😭😭😢

      Delete
  16. People are yet to understand how harmful Tramadol is. It is quite ufortunate.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is what someone gets for being a desperado. The #500k ransome her family paid would've been enough for her to open a business here, build a carrier and travel safe in future. Thank God you are alive. This is learning the hard way.

    ReplyDelete
  18. With all this painful experience we hear everyday more people are still going through same thing, thank God she survived it

    ReplyDelete
  19. Is it not better you stay put in your country and get a nanny job,mine takes 50k because she is an HND holder and just looking for funds to start a business. Because of no job.
    I treat her well as part of the family. She has told me she is doing just 2yrs bcos she just needs money for her cake business. She has free room,food and board. So she can save up.
    Most importanltly my mind is it peace with her. Even though the 50k is much but she does an exceptionally good job in taking care of the kids. Even helps them in assaigment because she educated. When they are not feeling too well trust her to give them drugs correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You can make your money here in Naija not necessarily in Libya. Buy rice, corn even beans and resell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abi ooo. You can also do side runs or have two to four sugar daddies to compensate for your chewing gums skinny pants boyfriends...... how many boyfriends?

      Delete
  21. Sad Story, thank God she made it back alif

    ReplyDelete
  22. For her mind now she want make us believe say she no gree do Ashawo. Heavy lie! For a lady that had ND from a poly in Naija to say she is going to Libya to hustle, and claim not to know that its Ashewo is a lie.
    From her story you can see that she actually succeeded in the opio work and was living large in Libya until the Libyan troop raided her home. if not that they raided her home she would have still remain in Libya. Lie Lie Woman.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is a lesson for those who are searching for green pasture , the risk is so high its not every bad things DAT happen to her she could mention but we have learnt little out of this

    ReplyDelete
  24. I hardly comment on this blog. I don't know why some girls feel going into prostitution is the fastest way to make money. After graduating from the university, while I was still waiting for service I borrowed 10k from someone, that was in 2007 I started going to Aba to buy bedsheets to sell I started with about 8pcs, I took them to family and friends and they bought. after selling I went back again to the market to buy more bedsheet, after selling the second set I was able to pay back the 10k and that's how biz started ooo now i'm a proud owner of a Shop where I sell bedspreads both foreign and locally made bedspreads, duvets, curtains, wallpapers, throw pillows,pillows and night wears , towels, under wears I have even employed a Sales girl cos I have to do other things like, going to look for hotels to supply bedspreads to and offices where I can make blends for them. I even went into branding sef lol the hustle was really aggressive. My Ex boyfriend had no choice than to support me sha with some money when he saw the way I was going with my biz. Just this recession touch me small sha cos sales is just too slow. But I still have faith that things will get better and biz will pick up soon. Ladies just believe in yourself and know that u can always achieve what u want to become though it's not easy @ all but with God all things are possible.

    ReplyDelete

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