A lady named Chika Obiakaeze, who hails from Anambra State, has revealed how a friend trafficked her to Libya for prostitution.

She noted that she met the friend via Facebook. According to her, she had enrolled in a fashion school in Nigeria; however, her dreams took a drastic turn when a friend offered to help her with employment as a domestic help in Libya.

Chika said she was assured of a well-paid job as she was deceived into the trip.

In a telephone interview with DailyPost, Chika explained that her friend introduced her to her sister, who is based in Libya, promising accommodation and a job upon her arrival.

Narrating her ordeal, Chika said: “We aren’t too close; in fact, I can’t remember his surname. When he introduced me to his sister, I thought he just wanted to help me. I thought it was legit.”

“I was learning tailoring before an online friend introduced me to his sister, whom he claimed needed someone to stay with her and take care of the house while she left for work.

“He told me the job was a good one with good pay, and I would get a chance to work with foreign expatriates. So, he sent the number of his sister, and I reached out to her.

“When I contacted the said sister, I asked her if it was a legit job, and she assured me that it was just a normal cleaning job like in Nigeria.

“We had a lengthy discussion, and she gave me directions on how to use the road to get to Libya, stating that was how she got to Libya herself and I had to use the same route.

“So, she sent me some money to buy some stuff before coming. She asked me to buy garri and water because on the way, there was no water or food.

“I asked her about transportation, and she told me it would be a luxurious bus that would bring us to the country, assuring me not to worry about anything.

“She told me to go to a place in Kano from Enugu; I can’t remember the name of that place in Kano, but she asked me to go there, where I would meet a man called the ‘Connection man’.

“I don’t know his real name, but that’s what she called him. She said that when I met him, he would direct me to where we would start the journey.”

Chika stated that her decision to leave Nigeria was a result of rejection from her mother.

“My mum left me at five years old to marry early because she believed that as she gave birth to me, she wouldn’t find a man to marry her. So, she married and abandoned me, and I don’t know who my father is. My mum refused to tell me anything about him.

“According to my mum’s sister, my Aunty, my mum refused to breastfeed me as a baby because she didn’t want her breasts to sag. I have been living with my mum’s sister since I was a child. She sponsored my education up to JSS3.

“My Aunty later got me a small apartment where I could stay and paid for me to learn tailoring because her husband didn’t like me and threatened her that he didn’t want me to live with them anymore.

“That’s why she rented a house for me. She called my mum to contribute to my feeding, but my mum claimed she had no money. I was living in the house and learning the work. Feeding was very difficult for me, and that’s why I decided to go to Libya after my friend told me about it.

“I didn’t tell anyone I was traveling; I was so naive that I didn’t even ask people about the country. My friend’s sister told me that the work I would be doing in Libya would pay me N100,000 daily, and I had never seen such money in my life before.

“I planned to work for at least two years to save money so I could start something since I had no helper,’’ she disclosed.

Chika further revealed how she survived the journey through the Sahara Desert, which took about two months before they reached the Libya border.

“So when I left Enugu, it took me about a day to get to Kano State because the bus I entered had a fault. When I got to Kano, I met the man ‘Connection man,’ and he told me to wait for a week because I would be joining others who were also going.

“I started getting worried. I called my friend’s sister and told her this wasn’t what she told me, and she said not to panic, that I would see the rest of the people I would be going with.

“So they took me to another person; the connection man was Hausa. Other girls started joining me where I was. They were young. As I met other girls, they explained where they were told they would be going. All of us looked at each other, but we couldn’t say much because there were other people with us.

“They brought some cars; I don’t know the names of the cars, but they brought about four cars and asked us to enter, saying the journey had started.

“They rushed us to enter the cars and make things snappy. There were so many of us that the cars couldn’t hold everyone, but they asked us to squeeze in, lap each other so everyone could find a seat.

“We started the journey but faced many challenges. We couldn’t see the road. The Hausa guys were driving us. We got to a place where they said if the cars stopped, we should start running. According to what I heard, we were close to the border where we could cross.

“The Hausa guys told us to be smart and ready to run so the police wouldn’t arrest us. They said if the police caught us, they would put us in prison.

“We had to trek so the police wouldn’t get us. We trekked for hours, everyone became exhausted. If you didn’t walk fast, they would beat you and shout in their language, and we didn’t understand what they were saying.

“We reached a place that looked like a ghetto, more like an Hausa place. They locked us in the building, and there was no Nigerian network, but it still looked like an Hausa environment. They told us we would be there until the Arab white people came to pick us.

“We were there for weeks, with no people to call due to no network. We had to feed on garri and water with glucose. Sometimes they brought food and asked us to buy for N100.

“After two weeks, the Arab people arrived, and we trekked from bush to bush to avoid the police for over seven hours.

“We reached a place where the Arab white men parked their Hilux trucks. There were about five cars. We entered the cars, and we were many.

“We started our journey, and the driving was rough. It was cold, and the cold was too much. I heard it was the Sahara Desert. Our water ran out, and they would fetch water that tasted like fuel for us. We stayed in that desert for almost a month before moving to another location where we entered other vehicles. They collected our phones and told us not to use them, promising to return them at the end of the journey.

“We continued the journey, lying down in the Hilux at one point, covering ourselves with backpacks, asked not to make noise. Two boys died during the journey, and I don’t know where they kept their bodies.

“They kept changing us from one person to another. They gave me to a man who called my madam to pick me up, and that’s how I got to Libya.

“I started the journey to Libya on September 18, 2022, and arrived on November 15, 2022.”

She narrated that upon arrival in Libya, she was forced into prostitution by her benefactor, who claimed she needed to pay her N1.5 million yearly through having sex with foreign expatriates.

Shocked by the revelation, she argued with her benefactor, who threatened to use charms on her if she refused to comply.

“She told me the job was called ‘connection one.’

“I asked her to explain better as I didn’t understand. She said it was ‘prostitution,’ and I would pay her 1.5 million naira. I was shocked and told her it wasn’t what we discussed; we talked about cleaning jobs.

“She threatened to make me run mad if I misbehaved and even forcibly removed hair from my private parts. She said no one would help me, and I had to accept or be sold.

“I was afraid but accepted. She took me to a prostitution house where I stayed for a month. I saved some money and got a phone without her knowing. I couldn’t stay there anymore; the people there forced little girls to sleep with them.

“I found a way to escape in December last year (2023).”

Chika Obiakaeze said she finally escaped from her benefactor through another friend she met on Facebook.

She continued: “I chatted with someone on Facebook and told him my ordeal. He said if I could escape, I should let him know.

“One day he called me and said he would send someone to help me escape. The person acted like he wanted to pick me up for a job.

“That’s how I left the prostitution house and worked somewhere, but they refused to pay me. They said they would pay when they returned but left with my money.”

Explaining how she has been taking care of herself since her escape, Chika said, “I am so tired. I feel like ending my life because anything can happen here. I hardly eat, and there’s no help for me to come back home.”

The 21-year-old appealed to the Nigerian embassy in Libya to come to her aid as she wants to return to Nigeria.

‘’I just want to go back to Nigeria; I am tired of being stranded here. A lot of things are happening here, and people are living in fear. You might go out and not return alive, and the police might arrest us because we came here illegally.

“They always ask for your passport and blood tests. The Arab people here can attack and sell you into prostitution. They treat us like slaves. I need help to go home; I want to return to Nigeria,” she pleaded.