Human Trafficking: NAPTIP Makes Case For London Victim
From Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) yesterday sent Save-Our-Soul message to good spirited individuals to come to the aid of one Miss Yemisi Afolake Adetimehin alleged to have been taken to London in suspicious circumstances and subjected to several abuses.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja on the outcome of Federal Government's intervention on the matter, NAPTIP Head of Investigations, Alhaji Mohammed Babandebe who represented the agency's Director General, said preliminary findings had established a clear case of abuse and exploitation against those behind the girl's current predicament.
The agency said a woman by name Alhaja S.B. Adeyemi had been arrested and charged to court but is presently under bail while further investigation on the matter continued.
"Presently, our investigation department has revealed this far, that the girl, Yemisi Afolake Adetimehin was ill. She and her father were introduced to the Alhaja S.B. Adeyemi who got interested in her case. They made arrangement and took the girl to London", he said.
Babandebe said Adetimehin who was at the centre of the whole saga had been diagnosed for cancer and was getting treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at a weekly bill of N35, 000.
The bill was apparently becoming unbearable for her parents and their desperate search for assistance led them into the hands of the Adeyemi who promised to take her to London for further medical treatment.
It was also alleged that the woman extracted an agreement under which she made the girl's father to part with the certificate of occupancy of his landed property in exchange for the envisaged help.
He said the woman even contacted a London-based organization, Ijebu-Ode Frontiers to help solicit for medical sponsorship for Yemisi's treatment but the funds from such campaigns were never utilized for that purpose.
He said the girl had alleged that the organization with the connivance of the woman attempted to lure her into prostitution and had her thrown out in the streets when she rebuffed such entreaties.
"Our concern is multiple. The girl is a Nigerian, she made allegations of sexual harassment against the president of the Ijebu-Ode Frontier. This, according to her, was with the encouragement of the Alhaja", he said.
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