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From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Ebonyi State-born businessman in Delta State, Joshua Nnamdi Ekuma, is standing trial at the Family Law Centre, Abakaliki, for allegedly trafficking his former girlfriend to Ghana.
The 25-year-old lady, Chinecherem Awuru, told the court that she was taken to Lagos State and handed over to a man identified as Uche that took her to Accra, Ghana, for commercial sex work.
The indigene of Egueke village, Ekka Community, in Ezza North Local Government, said, before the unfortunate incident, she was in a relationship with Ekuma in 2020. He got her pregnant and abandoned her.
Awuru further alleged that the pregnancy resulted in a baby girl. Two years after, the accused person visited her family and appealed for reconciliation, a request that was granted by her broadminded parents without knowing that Ekuma with his cohorts had a plan to traffic her to Ghana for prostitution: “He promised to take me to Lagos, where I would be provided with a better job but, surprisingly, as soon as we arrived Maza-Maza Motor Park on that fateful day in April 2024, he handed me over to another man that ushered me into a hotel.
“As the journey was progressing the following morning, I was not worried because I did not envisage that the father of my child could harm me, until I found myself in Ghana where I was forced to take an oath that would attract death, if I ran away from the illegal business or exposed the act.”
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Awuru, who was returned home in May this year, through the help of some Nigerians in Ghana, further said that she intimated her parents after she discovered that her health was deteriorating both physically and spiritually. Her parents then reported the matter to the community who urged the man to take care of her medical treatment.
The suspect, Ekuma, denied knowledge of his ex-lover’s trip to Ghana let alone conniving in such a criminal business. He claimed that their separation was caused by the lady’s alleged act of stubbornness: “Chinecherem wanted to defraud me some time ago by instructing her siblings to inform me that she was dead so that I could send money for her funeral but when I called home, my father hurriedly went to her compound and discovered that she was hale and hearty.”
He also claimed that, shortly after he had reconciled with Chinecherem in October 2024, in Delta State, through some persons’ intervention, she went further and faked her abduction and demanded a ransom of N200,000. But having found out that he would not yield to the gimmick, she returned home and reported him to the community leadership alleging that he masterminded her abduction.
Ekuma said that seeking redress at the Family Law Centre was prompted by the community’s action that allegedly denied him fair hearing.
President-general and secretary-general of Ekka Town Union, Chief Benjamin Idor and Chidi Nwefuru, respectively, told the court that the suspect had admitted to the allegations during the settlement at the community level. They said that his current tale was in total contrast to his earlier statement.
Chairperson of the centre, Mrs. Elizabeth Nwali, after listening to the parties and their incompatibilities, advised their parents and other stakeholders to go home and find out the facts from Ekuma and his ex-lover. She adjourned the case to January 15, 2026, for further hearing.
