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How I Was Turned To A Sex Slave –Trafficking Victim

When I got there, it was a different story entirely. I was abused and harassed by the white men who forced me to wash animal faeces and do terrible odd jobs.

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Folasade Ogunkuade, a victim of human trafficking, has narrated how she was misled into travelling abroad to seek greener pastures but ended up as a sex slave.

Ogunkuade, a petty trader, said she had planned to travel overseas for the purpose of taking adequate care of her family before everything went sour for her. 

She spoke at the office of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Akure, Ondo State, after she was rescued. 

The 36-year-old woman and mother of three explained how she was trafficked and sold off as slave despite paying huge sum of money to travel overseas to find a good job.

She disclosed that one Mr Modupe Olufowoso, disguising as a traveling agent, cajoled her to travel to Oman but ended up been abused by those claiming to be her ‘buyers’.

She said, “It was the man (Olufowoso) who helped me out and I travelled to Oman after paying him the money he asked from me.

“When he came to me, he said if I travelled to Oman, that I would make it and be able to take care of my children.

“When I got there, it was a different story entirely. I was abused and harassed by the white men who forced me to wash animal faeces and do terrible odd jobs.

“They were paying me N60,000 a monthly when converted to our currency in Nigeria.

“I worked 24 hours doing very strenuous jobs while also being sexually harassed and enslaved.

"Many Nigerian ladies were still trapped and being used as sex slaves in the Oman.”

Comptroller of the NIS in the state, Aboyade Yebovi, explained how the victim was rescued and brought back to Akure. 

Yebovi noted that the victim led operatives of the agency to arrest (Olufowoso after narrating her ordeal in the Asian country.

She disclosed that Olufowoso was in the business of defrauding young ladies and trafficking them outside the he country for prostitution.

According to Yebovi, all the victims especially females, who fell to Olufowoso's criminal act, ended up as slaves and prostitutes. 

She said, “We caught him (Olufowoso) when one of his victims, Folashade Ogunkuade, returned to the country.

“She had travel to Oman where she was used as a sex slave and prostitute.”

Confessing to the crime, Olufowoso said that his victims were always tracked on the social media.

He also disclosed that he had been in the business of trafficking young girls and women for many years. 

He said, “I have helped over 15 people to travel abroad and I normally collect over N150, 000 each from my client before they depart Nigeria.

“I advertise my services on social media and that is where I always get my clients. 

"Ogunkuade is one of my customers and I helped her to travel to Oman but I was surprised when she returned to Nigeria and said she was enslaved and sexually harassed.”

According to findings by Sahara Reporters, Olufowoso had been on the watchlist of security agencies in the state where trafficking of persons especially young ladies abroad for prostitution is widespread.

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CRIME Travel