Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police
Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have arrested a 50-year-old widow,
Mrs. Idowu Ademola, for allegedly bringing foreigners into Nigeria as domestic
servants.
Ademola was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State in combine
operation between IRT and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in
Persons, (NAPTIP).
It was gathered that NAPTIP solicited assistance from
IRT to catch Ademola after repeatedly trailing and losing her trail.
Law enforcement agents started beaming their
searchlight on Ademola after one of the girls she brought from Togo, had an
accident using a pressure cooker.
The victim, Mary (17), after she sustained severe
injury with the pressure cooker, was rushed to hospital.
Operatives of NAPTIP were contacted when doctors at
the hospital, where Mary was being treated, discovered she was trafficked into
Nigeria to work as maid for a woman identified as Angela. It was also
discovered that Mary’s salaries was being given to Ademola, rather than Mary.
A security source said: “Angela was arrested by operatives
of NAPTIP in Abuja. She admitted that she got the girl through a friend, Folake
Adelore, who introduced her to Ademola. Angela told NAPTIP officials that she
didn’t know where Ademola lives. This prompted a request to the IGP to deploy
IRT, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to find
Ademola, arrest her and ground down her operation.”
According to Ademola, she didn’t know bringing
foreigners into Nigeria was a criminal offence. Ademola thought she was
assisting the foreigners with jobs.
She said: “I went into business in 2017. I use to
travel to Okuta Town, Kwara State, a border with Benin Republic to buy rice and
vegetable oil. I met some young ladies, who told me that they would like to
come to Nigeria to work. They asked for my assistance. That was how I started.”
Ademola recalled that she had once got employment for
three boys in a poultry farmer in Sango Ota.
She said: “The boys were brought to me by their
brother. They each earn N12, 000 monthly, but I used to deduct N2000 from their
money every month. They were between ages 22 and 27. I had also given three girls
to Mrs Angela, who resides in Abuja. I met her through Mrs Folake Adelore.
“The first girl was 23 years, the second 20, and the
last one was 17. The first girl left
after her dad died. The second girl was sacked because she refused to follow
Angela to her village during Christmas. She now asked for replacement, leading
to my bringing Mary. It was Mary that got me into trouble.”
Ademola continued: “I learned that Mary was involved
in an accident when she tried to open a pressure pot. She was cooking beans and
it poured on her. I also gave a maid to Mrs Folake, who is a lawyer. The girl
worked for Folake for a year and was earning N12000 monthly. After the duration
of her work, Folake paid her N144, 000. I removed N24, 000 out of it and gave her
N120, 000.
“I also gave two other boys to a poultry farmer in
Ibadan before I was arrested. The boys were paid N12, 000; I remove my
commission, which is N2000. I wasn’t aware what I was doing was human
trafficking until the Abuja incident.”
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