BusinessDay 08 Apr 2018

Sunday 08 April 2018
BDSUNDAY 17
C002D5556
Investigation
Libya returnees leaving Motel Benin Plaza
task force officials who met them
at the gate said. “You can use part
of the N30,000 TB Joshua gave you
to rent an accommodation for the
night because we cannot allow you
in.” Those that were smart by half
sneaked in to stay with their friends
but were fished out and sent out of
the motel that night.
Most of the returnees called
family and friends, and by Friday,
they had checked out of the hotel
while those who had no place to
go hung around till midday on Saturday.
“I am frustrated. What bothers
me most now is that we (my husband
and I) don’t even have where
to lay our head,” said Edna Godwin,
a mother of three who left her three
children in the company of her
mother to join her husband in Libya
so they could cross over to Europe.
“In Lagos, they told all Edo State
indigenes that our governor has a
package for us. Many people went
to see TB Joshua but we decided to
come and answer our governor. The
task force officials asked us some
questions, registered us, then gave
us accommodation and food but
TB Joshua blessed those that went
to see him with N30,000 and a bag
of rice,” she said.
‘‘The officials gave us a flier on
Thursday (March 29) and told us to
reach them through the numbers on
the flier. We have been calling those
numbers for two days now but it’s
not even connecting.”
Seeking succour in God’s house
Some of the returnees who
heard that TB Joshua doled out
money in Lagos left the motel on
Saturday, travelled to Warri, Delta
State and lodged in a hotel located
a walking distance from Pastor
Jeremiah Omoto Fufeyin’s Christ
Mercyland Deliverance Ministry so
they could make it to church before
6am for the first service. They told
me they were going to solicit for
funds to kick-start their lives but
they didn’t succeed.
One of the returnees that gave
his name as Phillip said he even tried
to give testimony that day in order
to attract attention and probably
get some assistance but the ushers
beat him to it.
“When we told them that we
wanted to see Pastor Jeremiah, they
said he was busy. We only saw him
on the pulpit preaching and that was
all but at the end, I was blessed by
the service,” he said in a phone chat
as he journeyed back to Benin.
Desmond, another returnee
from the March 22, 2018 batch, said
he went in the company of some of
his fellow returnees to see Apostle
Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire
Ministry, Auchi, in Edo State, but
they were prevented from seeing
him. “They even started fighting us
and chasing us away. We told them
we did not come to fight but to tell
them how God had saved us from
Libya and they said we should leave
the premises,” Desmond said.
“I have almost exhausted the
100 euros I was given by IOM. I
don’t know what to do now. I’m so
frustrated,” he said.
Gloomy tales of torture and
death
They went on to tell me how
they were tortured and starved in
Libya and had to drink urine and
contaminated water in the desert.
Loveth
“Some people were begging others
to urinate so they could drink. It
was that bad,” said Peace, one of the
returnees. “I even drank water that
had corpse in it while others drank
from the same place where all kinds
of animals drank.”
Loveth Victor, 19, hairstylist
whose mother abandoned with her
grandmother when she was two
months old, said she was tricked
into going to Libya.
“The man that took me to Libya,
Mr. Biggie, told me that hairdressing
is a lucrative business in Libya and
that before four months, I could
make a lot of money. I got to know
him through a close friend of mine
who is a caterer,” she said.
She said her friend told her that
Mr. Biggie had asked if she knew
any hairstylist who was interested
in making huge money in Libya.
“Initially I was not interested in
going but when business became
very poor and I could stay a month
without patronage, my friend asked
if that was how I intended to survive.
She said she had seen a better
connection through who we could
leave the country. She said since we
had no intention of crossing over to
Italy or Europe, we could return to
Nigeria when we make our money
and I agreed,” she narrated.
Loveth left Nigeria in June 2017
but was raped many times by Nigeriens
in Agadez before she got to
Libya in October. When she eventually
got to Libya, she did not get
what she bargained for.
“Mr. Biggie linked me to a Yoruba
woman in Libya whom he said
owned a salon and the woman said
we would split any money I made
from hairdressing. We spent so
much time in Agadez because our
car did not come early.
“I spent one week in the woman’s
house in Libya and fixed hair for
two customers. One of the customers
gave me 50 dinars (N5,000)
while the other gave me 20 dinars
(N2,000). The following week, the
woman told me someone was coming
to take me to the salon to begin
work. It was when I got to the supposed
salon that I realized that the
lady had sold me to prostitution,”
she told me.
Loveth insisted on speaking
to the Yoruba woman and when
she did, she told her that was not
their agreement, but the woman
told her to cooperate with those
people else they would kill her.
“In front of me, they used the
back of gun on the head of one of
the girls who refused to accompany
a male customer home. The
girl collapsed and we later heard
she was dead.
“They took me for test and discovered
that I was pregnant. So,
they scheduled me for abortion but
I heard some girls were planning
to escape and I joined them in the
midnight to escape, though I broke
a leg in the process of jumping. With
the help of one of the girls because
of my pregnancy, I got a job of cleaning
the house of an Arabian, but I
couldn’t send the money I made
to my grandmother. So, someone
suggested I use the 3,000 dinars
(N300,000) I had to cross over to
Italy. I was on the Blue Sea when we
were captured and sent straight to
deportation camp,” she said.
Loveth stayed in the prison till
her pregnancy was due and, against
her pleas to be allowed to wait for
labour so she could have a normal
delivery, she was taken to the theatre
for surgery. After delivery on
March 7, 2018, she was given the
option to either remain in Libya or go
back to Nigeria. She chose the latter.
“I was sold thrice in Libya and on
those occasions, they filmed where
they were torturing me and sent the
video to my grandma. I don’t know
where the poor woman borrowed
N550,000 to pay them those times.
I felt bad for putting her through a lot
because she is the only parent I have
known since I was little. She hawked
to train me from kindergarten to
secondary school. My travelling to
Libya was so I could take care of her
and I couldn’t even achieve that,”
she said in regret.
Elizabeth Sunday, a 29-year old
tailor from Enugu State who had
lived in Benin for eight years, left for
Libya in July 2017.
Elizabeth, the first child in a family
of seven children, said she decided
to travel when life became too
tough for her.
“It was too hard for me to eat and
there was no one to assist me. My
parents are in my village and they
are very poor. I have younger ones
who are looking up to me,” she said.
So, when a lady she learnt tailoring
with told her about a woman
who would take them to Germany
and they would reimburse her later,
she jumped at the offer.
“When I spoke to the woman
on phone, she promised to take me
to Germany on the condition that
I would pay her N10 million. I said
that was too much but she told me
that it won’t take me time to make
the money once I start working. She
said tailoring was a money-spinner
and the way she spoke with me on
the phone, I believed her,” she said.
The woman told her she would
put her on boat to Germany after
her friend had crossed over but
when a fight ensued, she was
abandoned.
Elizabeth said she was raped
twice and later discovered that she
was pregnant.
“I was raped in Agadez and when
they were taking us from Sabha to
camp, I experienced another rape,”
she sobbed. “I got to know that I
was pregnant in the camp and tried
to take drugs to remove it, but it refused
to go. So, I left it,” she told me.
She called her colleague and
told her that the woman abandoned
her and she was stranded.
She sent her N80,000 and with
that, she begged to be put on the
boat. She was on the Blue Sea when
she was rescued by the Libyan
rescue team and taken to prison.
“They came to check me in the
prison and ask how old my pregnancy
was and I said eight months
and one week. They took me to the
hospital and where I was until my
baby completed nine months. They
did not wait for me to go into labour.
They took me upstairs for surgery.
I begged them to allow me deliver
vaginally but they said they could
not wait. So, a caesarian operation
was done on me. I told them I
wanted to go back to Nigeria and
I was brought home a week later,”
she said.
Elizabeth does not know what
to do now or where to begin but
she said she is not ready to tell her
parents that she came home with
a child because that would break
their hearts.
“I did not tell my parents before
going to Libya. I only called them
when I was on my way and they
were not happy I left without telling
them. My mother said even if
they had nothing to give me, they
could still pray for me to arrive at my
destination in sound health. I don’t
know where I am going to stay but
because of the child, I won’t go to
the village now,” she said. George,
another returnee, was denied
American and Canadian visa but
when one of his elder brothers who
had travelled via Libya to Germany
persuaded him to follow the same
route, he decided to give it a try.
“He told me to try land. Three of
my elder brothers travelled through
that route and they are in Germany
now. So, I left Nigeria on November
3, 2017 for Libya.
“When we were on top of the sea
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