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By Abubakar Yakubu, Abuja
For Mark Kadiri, a father of three children and fashion designer based at Mararaba in Nasarawa State friendship meant so much. Hence, he trusted one Eromosele Irabor and decided to follow his advice which eventually led him into a slave camp that almost wrecked his life in Benin Republic.
Eromosele, his friend, was based in Dubai and for some eight years, Kadiri had not set eyes on him. That was until early 2023 when he came back to Nigeria to buy half a plot of land before returning to Dubai.
Kadiri said after Eromosele returned to Dubai, he called on phone some weeks later to inform him that he had just got a new well-paying job in a place between Benin Republic and Burkina Faso. He then asked Kadiri to join him as there were still few vacancies left.
Kadiri said his friend told him that all he needed to embark on the trip over there was N650,000, adding that after much persuasion from his wife not to shut his fashion design shop, he sold his land in Abuja for N350,000 while his wife and himself borrowed money to complete the rest before he embarked on the trip.
“In July 2023, I embarked on the trip by travelling to Lagos on a fare of N25,000 and spent N8,000 to travel by boat to Porto Novo for about three hours.
“From Porto Novo, we went by bike to Cotonou, where I paid CFA 3,000 and later paid another CFA 9,000 before I reached Parakou, after eight hours,” he narrated.
He said before he reached Parakou, the agent who was leading him asked him to transfer the whole N650,000 to the company giving him the job.
According to him, they took him to a so-called office where he saw a lot of hungry looking Nigerians and was shocked to learn that what existed there was an online scam business, where people are held hostage until they can deceive a certain number of people to come down to Benin Republic with money.
“You are only treated nicely by being lodged in a hotel immediately you arrive but the following morning after all the money you brought has been collected, you are taken to a certain office for training from 8am until 2pm and later taken to a large hall called a lodge, where over 30 persons sleep on the floor as well as feed on scrap to survive,” he said.
Kadiri further narrated that if anyone refused to go for training, he would not be fed.
He said during training in the morning when the Wi Fi was put on, each applicant was advised to develop the heart of a lion and invite three persons very close to them from Nigeria with promises of better job opportunities in Benin Republic, after the payment of a certain amount of money, which in his case was N650,000.
He also disclosed that there was the case of a man who lured his younger brother to the place in order to secure his own freedom.
“I was full of regrets and slept on the bare floor for about three months. In fact what saved me was that I was able to free myself by buying my way out from the group and later using my experience as a fashion designer to seek employment with a French tailor near the lodge, who engaged me.
“With what I was being paid by the French man, I was able to feed properly and save money to plan my return trip to Nigeria,” he explained.
Kadiri described the environment at Parakou as very scary, with inmates at the lodge afraid of being arrested by the Benin gendarmes.
“Once you enter the place, the leaders in the lodge dispossess you of your documents and you are kept busy in the morning periods so that the police will not pick you up for idleness.
“You dare not cause trouble as you will be dealt with. And some Nigerians are ashamed to return due to the shame of restarting their lives after selling all their property,” he added.
Kadiri narrated that after working with the French tailor for two months, he saved enough money to embark on his trip back to Lagos and later to Abuja.
“I thank God for my wife, who asked me not to close down my fashion design shop at Mararaba in Nasarawa State and sell my machines as that is what is keeping me going,” he stated.
Kadiri reunited with his family in early November 2023, while his business has picked up tremendously, but he is still treating an ear infection he contracted from the lodge.
Another victim, Ibrahim Gizawo, who worked as a salesman in a sachet water factory in Abuja, also has a bitter tale to tell.
He said in January this year, he received a call from his friend in Burkina Faso, who assured him that there was a job in a particular form that would be suitable for him in Burkina Faso, where he would be paid $250 weekly.
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“My friend told me that the total expenses I would incur to travel and get the appointment would be N2 million, which would include N300,000 for transportation.
“I sold some of my belongings such as shoes as well as clothes, while my mother and sister assisted me in raising the entire money for the trip,” he said.
He said in Lagos, the agent he was detailed to follow on the trip, demanded the full transportation fare of N300,000 before they embarked on the trip which lasted four days by road.
“When we arrived in Burkina Faso, I asked the agent to take me directly to the company I was to work with, but the man convinced me to transfer the remaining N1.7 million to the company’s management so that they could assist with my documentation before I could move around,” he stated.
Afterwards, he said, the agent took him inside a compound that had a building called motivational hall, where he met one Simeon Okpei, the leader of the place, who told him that the type of business that went on in the place was called QNET.
“Immediately I knew the business was that of scamming people, I started making noise for a refund of my money and the leader ordered some of his boys to take me outside so that I would not instigate others in the hall.
“Why I turned rebellious was that in the morning, we were expected to switch off our phones until 4:30 pm, in order to convince people in Nigeria that we were at work,” he disclosed.
He said what went on there in the morning was that inmates in the place, who were over 1000, were asked to go online to convince three persons very close to them to embark on the trip to Burkina Faso with a certain amount of money, in order to buy their freedom.
According to him, if an inmate succeeds in luring three persons down to the place, the person who did that is either set free or allowed to take charge of another lodge where Nigerian inmates are kept.
He said there is a case in which one of the inmates lured his father to the lodge, adding that the old man stares at his son everyday with disbelief and regret.
Gizawo narrated further that he had to locate a mosque nearby the lodge where indigenes of the community prayed and this frightened the leaders of the lodge not to harm him.
“After witnessing about two deaths due to hunger, I had to call my people in Abuja to help me sell my building and send me part of the money, which I used to escape from the place,” he said.
He described the feeding habit in the place as very poor, noting that scammed Nigerians troop into such lodges daily and are trapped.
Our reporter learnt that the lodges which are owned by Nigerians also exist in Cote d’ Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali and Gambia
A security expert, Salishu Danjuma, noted that female Nigerians are also being lured into prostitution by the same network. In his words, the girls are, on arrival in such foreign countries, immediately sold to brothel owners.
“Such ladies are sneakily transported to the brothels and handed over to their new owners who place them on oaths as well as give them a breakdown of how much they will pay before freedom can be granted to them,” he said.
Danjuma advised immigration officials at borders to be vigilant in stopping vulnerable people travelling to such countries to be enslaved.
He also called on security outfits such as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Interpol to investigate the reports in such countries in order to rescue those enslaved in lodges as well as brothels.
“I listened to a radio programme called Brekete Family in the Human Rights Radio and Television Station in Abuja, where a girl called Diamond narrated how she was lured to Burkina Faso and sold to a brothel owner. Officials of the NIA in that country should try to find the place to save other female Nigerians,” he said.
Also reacting, a senior official in the presidency, who pleaded anonymity, accused most of the trafficked victims of being greedy.
He said states that fall victims to this traffickers are usually Edo, Delta, Anambra, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Imo and Cross River.
He said the fake report of high-dollar remunerations in the neighbouring countries might have been the reason victims embarked on such risky trips.
He warned that before people make such trips, there must be an employment letter that must be verified with relevant authorities and the journey should also be done in a legitimate way instead of through illegal routes.
He stated further that the federal government recently repatriated about 200 Nigerians who were stranded in Ghana, adding that such repatriation exercise, which is an expensive venture, has also taken place in Libya, Oman and few other countries.
“Even with this gesture from government, more and more Nigerians are still being trafficked through illegal routes to those countries daily. And let me tell you that there is no budget for repatriating such persons in the country’s embassies or Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he disclosed.
He warned Nigerian youths to shun the get- rich syndrome, scrutinise such job offers properly and always insist on travelling through legitimate means with full documentation.
