Sunday, January 19, 2020

Lady trafficked to Lebanon, sold to slavery, cries for help

Abiodun Adesoga

A 23-year-old lady, Ajayi Omolola has revealed in trending video how a family friend trafficked and sold her into slavery in Lebanon.


The video, which first hit the social media yesterday, has been shared several times by worried Nigerians. In the video, Omolola, in a voice filled with anguish and desperation begged Nigerians to do everything possible to rescue her from Lebanon.

While stating the names of her parents as Mr Kehinde Ajayi and Mrs Felicia Ajayi, noted that her parents live in
Ilorin, at Offa garage, under bridge in Kwara State, Nigeria.

While telling her story, it became obvious that she was trafficked through lies and deceit by a family friend. Omolola was told that she was going to Lebanon to teach some children English Language, she got there to discover that she had been fed a pack of lies.

Weeping silently, she said: “A family friend introduced me to the Lebanese that brought me here to teach their children English language. It turned out to be a lie. When I got here, they collected my passport and kept it. I asked why they did that, I was told that I had been sold as a slave. What I’m facing here is not a small thing. I hope I don't die. If we’re sick, they wouldn’t tale us to hospital and they only give us panadol. Half of the people we came to Lebanon together with have died.”

Omolola seized the opportunity to implore female support groups and Nigerians as a whole to come to her rescue and help in ensuring she returns to Nigeria.

She recounted: “The person I’m with now wants to rape me, but I didn't agree. I’m struggling with him. He has collected my phone. He said that he wouldn’t return it until I accept his sexual advances. If he is sleeping or has gone out, I take the phone.”

Omolola said that she has tried to call her agent, who connected her to her present master, but discovered that the man had blocked her, making connecting to him via phone impossible. She had also attempted to tell her master that she wanted him to return her to Nigeria, but his response shocked her.

She said: “I told the my boss that I wanted to be returned to Nigeria, he replied that he has paid for me; that dead or alive, he owns me. I have a three years old baby in Nigeria. Feminique Life Support please help me, have mercy on me! I want to take care of my daughter. Please don't let my death make my parents cry. The other girl I worked with has traveled so he could come at me again. Please help me, don't allow them to kill me in this country. I don't even have a room to sleep. I sleep on the floor, in the parlor, in this cold weather. I’m not even given a cloth to cover; I wear rags. Please help me because as this man tried to rape me, I pushed him away, so I am scared of him dying by my hands because they’ll kill me too. My child doesn't know me and I am suffering too much. The work I came here to do is different from what they are using me for here, and as I speak, I’m even ill and the only drug I had been given was panadol.”

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