‘Maggots were oozing out of my leg after Libya policeman shot, abandoned me’

Some Libya returnees

A 35-year-old man, Endurance Omiyo, has recounted how his mother took loan from a microfinance back to pay for amputation of his leg in Libya.

Like most Libyan returnees, Omiyo wanted to use that country as a transit point to Italy, unfortunately, he was shot by a policeman. He confessed to have been shot while attempting to evade arrest.

According to him, it was his mother, who had been taking care of him and his siblings in the past 14 years when their father died, that once again, came to his rescue.

He said: “I regret going to Libya. It was because I wanted to better the life of myself and family that I embarked on the journey. I was arrested on sea, where I spent 12 hours. We were about 160 on board, but only 50 of us survived. We were arrested by the policemen guarding the coast. They took us straight to prison. I spent three weeks in the prison. While in the prison, I called my mother in Nigeria to inform her about the development.”

Omiyo said that after narrating his ordeal to his mother, he demanded money, but his mother told him that she had no money. He had to call one of his friends, who had successfully crossed to Italy from Libya. The friend sent him the required money.

He said: “I was shot while trying to run. Two of my friends, who were hit by bullets when we were about to escape died on the spot. Even after they shot me, I still continued to run. It was when I got the stage, where I couldn’t run anymore, that I collapsed. I later found myself in the hospital. I woke up in hospital three days after I was shot and rushed to the hospital.

“I don’t know the person that took me to the hospital. I spent a month in that hospital without proper medical care. My leg was decaying and maggots were coming. After two months in the hospital, it was a Nigerian lady, working in the hospital that gave me her phone to call my mother in Nigeria.

“Whenever my mother wanted to speak with me, she would call the Nigerian. It was when maggots started coming out of my leg that my mother went to collect N400,000 loan from a microfinance bank. The money was used to save my leg. A team of doctors worked on my leg and amputated it.”

Another returnee, Festus Ogbonaya, from Imo State, said that he left Nigeria in September, in search of greener pastures in Italy only to find agony.

He said: “We were about 26,000 people that left Nigeria together. We left in about 30 buses, and one of the buses had an accident. The whole occupants in the bus died. Those of us who made it to Libya were shot at; six among us were shot dead in my presence. I’m sure that parents and family members of those that died still believe that their children had successfully crossed over to Italy. We were hijacked on the sea by some pirates and kept us in their camp, there they beat us with cables and sold us.  It was God that got me out of that place safely. They sold our girls to a brothel called Connection House. I bought my way out of their detention camp.”

Ogbonnaya said that what shocked him most in his experience was the discovery that money for buying your freedom, was paid into a Nigerian’s accounts.

He said: “The slavery business is between Nigerians and Arabs. I’m begging Nigerians who still want to go overseas for greener pastures, to desist. Libya is not a country where people should go. I spent N1.3 million to travel to that place. Since I got there, we were kept in a house where they used to feed us, but after a while, they stopped feeding us.

“My experience was very rough. The only time I had a good time with myself was the journey from Nigeria to Niger; from there to Libya was hell. They would hide us inside pick-up vans, to avoid security agents seeing us. Sometimes, when we are thirsty, they used petroleum gallon to give us water. After drinking the water, some will vomit, others vomited blood. I thank God I was brought back to Nigeria by the International Organisation for Migrants and the European Union. Majority of us are very feeble today.”

A lady, Faith Richard, said it was her friend, residing in Libya, before Ghadaffi died that advised her to relocate to that country.

He said: “It was my friend, who sent me N600,000 to travel down to Libya. When I got to Libya, I worked as a cleaner with a family of five. I was going to work one fateful day when policemen at a check point stopped me and took me to their station. I even tried to bribe the policemen to let me go, but they refused. The policemen also stole my money before taking me to the deportation camp.”

Bashirat Mustapha from Ibadan, Oyo State, said: “I’m the second child of my parents. I wanted a better life for every member of my family. It was a lady who we met at a supermarket, who just returned from Libya that talked us into embarking on the journey. She said she was taking some girls to Libya and I immediately picked interest. I told my father.

“He didn’t say anything; that was why I went back to the lady. I told her that I was interested in going to Libya with her. She promised to get me a job there. When we got to Libya, I was working as cleaner in a company. After I paid her N1 million, I decided to come back after I was release from the detention camp where I was sold N300,000. I also paid the person N350,000 to get myself out of the camp. My friends and I were arrested in our house, under the claim that we were prostitutes. The money I used to regain my freedom was sent to me by my mother from Nigeria. I got my freedom July 28 and since then, my friends and I decided not to work till we could return home. I advise my contemporaries to stop travelling by road.”