The experience of Ifekoya Adejoke is as harrowing as it is
heart-breaking. Lured by a false promise of ‘greener pastures’ abroad, the
young Nigerian ended up a merciless victim of human trafficking, chained to a
bed in a dingy, dirty Libyan room and forced to sexually satisfy up to 30 men
in a single night.
Adejoke, a Lagos indigene, explained that an impoverished
background led her to survive by hawking water as a young girl before she
becoming an apprentice hair stylist.
“When I lost my dad, his family claimed my mum was
responsible for his death,” the 21 year old tearfully said, sharing her
experiences at a popular church in Lagos. “They left us with her and ever since
then, she has been the one catering for us.”
Aged 19, a middle-aged lady walked into the shop where she
was styling and approached her with an unusual proposal.
“She came to me and said there was a country she was staying
in and if she took me to that country, I would make money and would be able to
cater for my family. My happiness knew no bounds,” she recalled, her judgement
veiled by the blind promise of greener pastures. “I said, ‘Finally, an angel
has come’. Unknown to me, she was a devil in human’s clothing.”
Just one week later, without even informing her mum or
siblings, Ifekoya was in a vehicle with the mysterious lady en route to Libya.
“She said when we got there, we would board a flight to Spain where I would
start work as a stylist”.
Shackled as a sex slave alone in the dark, dirty room save
for the ravenous men who forced themselves on her, Ifekoya’s willpower slowly
began wilting.
“After two weeks, the other girls came to me and said that
if I didn’t accept to do this, she would tie me down for two years. When I knew
the whole thing was like that, I just accepted.”
Informed that she would have to repay a total of $9,000 to
the devilish lady to ‘cover the costs’ of her travel to Libya, the young
Nigerian prostituted for almost one year before finally ‘earning’ enough to
‘buy’ her freedom.
However, as hope finally beckoned that she could leave such
hellish lifestyle, fate struck another venomous blow.
“Immediately I planned to leave the place, I started falling
sick – seriously sick.” Nearly one year of sleeping with multiple men on a
nightly basis had taken its toll on her young body. “To my greatest surprise,
my womb fell. I had to be taken to the hospital where they operated on me to
remove it.”
Feeble and practically penniless, Ifekoya now faced the
ominous challenge of making enough money for the journey back to Nigeria. Her
options were limited.
“At the end of the day, I had no choice. I still had to
resort to the same thing to come back to Nigeria,” she admitted.
Eventually ending up in another brothel, she began saving up
for the return leg of her nightmare journey. After encountering a fellow
Nigerian prostitute who had a similar story as a victim of deception and
exploitation, the duo struck a strong friendship and resolved to make the
journey together. At this point, they made what turned out to be a
life-changing discovery.
“It was when we were in one of our friend’s houses that we
were introduced to Emmanuel TV,” she explained. “We started watching and
praying along with it.”
Almost 2 years after her intrepid trip across the Sahara
Desert, Ifekoya and her friend embarked on the journey back to Nigeria.
Inspired by the clips they had seen on Emmanuel TV, the television station of
controversial Nigerian pastor T.B. Joshua, they decided to make The Synagogue,
Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) their first port of call.
After receiving prayer for ‘deliverance’ from the ‘spirit of
prostitution’ and hearing of their sordid stories, Joshua decided to give the
ex-prostitutes N200,000 ($1,200) each to restart their lives.
“God has kept me alive to pass this message across to the
youth,” the young Nigerian emotionally concluded, admonishing her age-mates not
to fall prey to the same tactics used to lure her into slavery.
Ihechukwu Njoku - freelance Nigerian journalist
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