Precious Nwaigwe, The 15-Year-Old Schoolgirl Kidnapped For About a Year Narrates Her Journey to Libya

Precious Nwaigwe, the 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was kidnapped in the Ajah area of Lagos State about a year ago, has said she was made to work for $6,000 the Libyan pimp paid to buy her.

She added that after paying the money, she was again used as collateral for a 500 Libyan dinars (N50,000) loan.

She also stated that her abductors conducted pregnancy tests on her three different times, which were negative.

The schoolgirl, who was released on Friday, spoke to Punch Metro on Monday in Ikeja, Lagos.

She said she saw more than 1,000 Nigerian girls, who were also forced to work for the money paid by the pimps to the human traffickers.

Our correspondent had reported how the victim was kidnapped in May, 2014 while returning to her school, Ikenne Community College, Ikenne, Ogun State.

Her parents were said to have been contacted by the kidnappers in the Niger Republic, about two months after, demanding $100,000 (N19.9m) as a ransom.

Policemen from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad went to different parts of the country to arrest suspects.

A principal suspect and cousin of the victim, Kelvin Okito, was said to have eventually made a call to his accomplices in Libya, asking them to free the victim.

She returned to Lagos on Friday.

Precious said she would never forgive her cousin for betraying her trust.

She said she was actually abducted in Ode Remo, Ogun State after she stumbled on some cultists en route to her school in Ikenne.

She said, “When I left Sangotedo Park in Ajah for school, I was the only one in the vehicle, so the driver dropped me off at Ibeju Lekki.

“I got another vehicle from there, which took me to Ode Remo around 9pm. I could not find a cab that would take me to Ikenne where my school is. I did not know they were having a festival that day and people had been asked to stay indoors.

“I trekked for about two hours until I stumbled on some people who were talking. I discovered they were cultists and they accused me of eavesdropping. They added that I knew their secrets. The ladies among them descended on me.

“After the ladies were done beating me, they asked the men in the group to take turns to rape me.”

She said she faintly heard a man in the group protesting the decision.

She said the man, who she later identified as Seun, took her to Ojota in Lagos.

She said Seun took care of her for two weeks, while she recuperated from her injuries.

Precious added, “One day, he said he wanted to help me to get eyedrop because my eyes were swollen. I begged him to allow me to follow him, at least to see the sun.

“He obliged me and while we were going, my slippers cut and I went back into the house to pick another one. I was on my way when I saw Kelvin (Okito) my maternal cousin.”

The Ohaozara, Ebonyi State indigene, said she narrated her ordeal to Okito, thinking that he would rescue her.

Punch Metro learnt that Okito, however, took her to the Alaba area of Lagos and connived with his friend, John, to sell the 15-year-old to John’s elder brother, identified as Nzube Chukwu.

Chukwu was said to be based in Libya.

She explained that Okito deceived her that he had discussed with her mother to take her to Libya where she would continue her education.

She said, “He said he had called my mum and told her he was taking me on a journey to Libya. I pleaded with him to allow me talk to her, but he said my mum was happy that I was going to Libya, where I would continue my education.”

She said together with some other migrants, they spent four days on the road before reaching Agadez in the Niger Republic.

She said at that point, her co-travellers told her that it was a journey of life and death.

She said, “We spent four days on our journey to Agadez in the Niger Republic. The other people with me said it was a journey of life and death. I managed to get a phone, called my mum and asked her for money so I could return to Nigeria.

“They discovered the phone that I used to call my mum and they seized it. I was made to stay indoors in Agadez for three weeks.”

She said they later started the journey to Libya and spent seven days in the desert, adding that some people died on the way.

“We got to Bra in Libya seven days after. I met the wife of the man (Chukwu) and she asked me if I had been told what I was there for. I said, ‘Yes, to continue my school.’

“I was taken to a place where there were so many girls wearing only pants and bras. I told them to wear their clothes. But they laughed at me and said, ‘this one is a JJC (naive)’,” she added.

Precious said the woman told her she had bought her and she must work to pay back the money.

Punch Metro learnt that the woman told her she would pay $6,000, including transport, accommodation and feeding costs.

She said when she did not cooperate, she was beaten up.

“Every night, they would torture me with cigarette stubs. They locked me up in a room and beat me up,” she added.

Our correspondent learnt that the practice in the area was that every day’s job was documented in a notebook.

At the end of the month, the total money made by each of the girls would be tabulated and divided into two.

The money would then be shared ─ one part for accommodation and feeding, and the other for transport cost incurred while travelling down to Libya.

Precious said she had pleaded with a man that had indicated interest to sleep with her on a night, to allow her make a call with his phone.

She said she called Okito and told him she was suffering, begging him to talk to the woman to allow her go.

Okito was said to have assured the 15-year-old that he would do something.

She said, “But I paid the money back on my own. The man (Chukwu), who sold me to the woman, then came back and started making trouble again.”

It was learnt that Chukwu later used the victim to borrow 500 dinars (about N50,000).

She said she was relocated to another part of the town, Baladia.

Precious said she was accused of sleeping with Chukwu and was subjected to three pregnancy tests, which were negative.

While working to raise the 500 dinars, she said she met a Nigerian named Soni (Sunday).

The two were said to have become friends.

Punch Metro was told that policemen at the SCID and SARS, in the course of investigations, arrested John and Okito in Lagos.

John’s brother, Chukwu, was said to have threatened Precious that she would not be allowed to return to Nigeria until the police in Nigeria released John.

However, Soni helped the victim to pay the money and insisted that the victim was no longer in captivity and Chukwu could not decide her fate.

Punch Metro learnt that Soni, who worked as a tiles contractor in Libya, arranged Precious’ transport to Lagos.

She told our correspondent that while preparing to return home, the pimp in Libya urged her to recruit girls from Lagos.

She said, “She told me that now that I have seen how she worked and made her money, she would want me to join the business.

“There were more than 1,000 Nigerian girls who had been recruited to work in Libya.

“I was lucky to have survived and returned home safely.”

She said when she arrived in Lagos, she contacted a relative in the Okota area of the state, who took her to her parents.

“I can never forgive my cousin who did this to me.

“I trusted him and he decided to sell me for money,” she said.

Our correspondent learnt that the victim would not return to her school in Ikenne.

Her father, Okoro, said he was happy that his daughter returned home alive.

He said, “There were four people involved in this sad tale and they were my town’s people.

“I spent more than N3m to get my daughter back. I was close to selling my house.”

Her mother, Blessing, commended police, The PUNCH and other Nigerians for their support.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said the suspects would soon be taken to court.

Photos & Profiles Of The 4 Nigerians To Be Executed In Indonesia For Drug-Related Offences

Here are the photos and profiles of the 4 Nigerians who are to be executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

Martin Anderson:

50 year old Martin Anderson (above) was arrested in Jakarta in 2003 on a charge of possessing about 1.8 ounces of heroin and was accused of being part of a local drug ring.

He had traveled to Indonesia on a fake Ghanaian passport and has been incorrectly identified as Ghanaian.
He was sentenced to death in 2004. According to his lawyer, Kusmanto, who like many Indonesians uses one name, Mr. Anderson was shot in the leg during his arrest — a method the Indonesian police are sometimes known to use when apprehending a suspect — and remains bothered by the wound to this day.
He has been in poor spirits since being transferred to Nusakambangan Island for execution, Mr. Kusmanto said.

Mr. Anderson has filed for a judicial review of his conviction and death sentence with the Supreme Court, but his lawyer said he feared the court would not consider the appeal until after he is executed. Such appeals can take six months to be heard, Mr. Kusmanto said. “Obviously we hope it’s sooner.”

Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, 47, Nigeria – Smuggling Heroin

Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise’s story, as his wife tells it, is similar to those of other Nigerians on Indonesia’s death row for drug trafficking. Unemployed in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, he was lured to Pakistan by fellow Nigerians on the promise of a job with good wages.
But once in Pakistan, instead of a job, he got an offer to swallow some capsules – filled with goat horn powder, his wife, Fatimah Farwin, says he was told – and fly to Indonesia.

“They said they didn’t want to pay tax on it,” Ms. Fatimah said. “When he arrived at the airport in Jakarta, the police saw him – I don’t know how – they caught him and X-rayed him, and they found it and it was drugs.”

Arrested in 2001, Mr. Nwolise was convicted the following year of bringing 2.6 pounds of heroin into the country, and was sentenced to death.

During his trial, according to Ms. Fatimah, Mr. Nwolise had no translator, and his Indonesian lawyer could barely communicate with him. She said that a judge, through an intermediary, offered to sentence him to prison rather than death if he paid a bribe of 200 million rupiah, worth about $22,000 at the time.
“But he was just a poor courier. He didn’t have any money,” Ms. Fatimah said.

Ms. Fatimah, who is Indonesian, met Mr. Nwolise in prison in 2007, when she was accompanying a friend who was visiting another inmate. The two married later that year; they have since had two children, now 5 and 3, but she has not brought them to see him since they were infants. She has told them that their father is working in an office in another country.

In January, the Indonesian police accused Mr. Nwolise of running a drug syndicate from prison. No charges were brought, but Ms. Fatimah, who says emphatically that her husband is innocent of the accusation, believes it resulted in his being placed in the group of inmates now facing imminent execution.

“Some woman on the outside blamed him,” Ms. Fatimah said, referring to a police informant, “but when they came to his cell, they never found anything – never, never, never. He never had a trial and next thing, they wanted to execute him.”

Jamiu Owolabi Abashin, 50, Nigeria – Smuggling Heroin

Jamiu Owolabi Abashin was living on the streets of Bangkok in 1998 when a fellow African living there took pity on him and brought him home. Shortly thereafter, according to Mr. Abashin, his new friend asked whether he wanted a quick-paying job, in which he would get $400 for bringing a package of clothing to the friend’s wife in Surabaya, Indonesia, where she sold used shirts and pants.

Mr. Abashin readily agreed, but soon wished he hadn’t: The package contained nearly 12 pounds of heroin, and he was arrested after landing at Surabaya’s airport. Mr. Abashin, who was traveling on a false Spanish passport, contended he was duped.

He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to life in prison, which was reduced to 20 years on appeal. State prosecutors challenged the sentence reduction before the Indonesian Supreme Court, which in 2006 sentenced Mr. Abashin to death.

In a request for presidential clemency in 2008, he admitted knowingly smuggling the drugs. The request was denied in January.

The Indonesian government refers to him as Raheem Agbaje Salami, the name on the fake Spanish passport he was using when he was arrested.

Ursa Supit, an Indonesian legal activist who is advocating on Mr. Abashin’s behalf, says that because he had no money, he was assigned a state lawyer for his trial and had no legal counsel when he appealed to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Abashin, who now has a lawyer, is challenging Mr. Joko’s rejection of his clemency request.
“He has been inside now for 17 years, and he has never broken a rule inside,” Ms. Supit said. “And now they are going to execute him. He’s never had money for lawyers. It’s not fair.”

Okwudili Oyatanze, 41, Nigeria – Smuggling heroin

The YouTube clip shows what seems to be a typical Sunday religious service at a small church. A young African man, accompanied by an Asian guitarist, sings a heartfelt gospel song as the audience sings along.

But the camera does not show the security guards, iron bars and barbed wire fences that would have indicated this was no ordinary place.

The singer, Okwudili Oyatanze, was giving his regular performance at a penitentiary outside the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Known in Indonesia’s penal system as “The Death Row Gospel Singer,” Mr. Oyatanze, 41, was arrested in 2001 while trying to smuggle 5.5 pounds of heroin through Jakarta’s international airport, in his stomach, after arriving on a flight from Pakistan. He was convicted the following year and sentenced to death.

Mr. Oyatanze has made the most of his incarceration, writing more than 70 songs and recording multiple albums behind bars. He has performed with prison guards as well as fellow inmates.
In the video, shot in 2008, Mr. Oyatanze sang his song “God You Know,” which was also the name of an album he released that year.

“He has turned his life around in jail,” said the Rev. Charles Burrows, a Catholic priest from Ireland who now lives in Indonesia and is offering religious counseling to Mr. Oyatanze as he awaits his execution.
Raised in outheastern Nigeria, Mr. Oyatanze started a garment business in 1999, traveling to Indonesia to buy clothing and resell it in Nigeria. The business collapsed, and Mr. Oyatanze, heavily in debt, traveled to Pakistan to try to revive it, at the suggestion of a fellow Nigerian living there.

The plan involved swallowing capsules of heroin before boarding a flight to Jakarta. “There was a chance to earn some easy money, so he became a courier,” Mr. Burrows said.

Kim Kardashian Shows 100% Support For Bruce Jenner on His Sex Change

Speaking to Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning, Kim said she isn't vain.

She then got down to a slightly more important topic: how is she reacting to the Bruce Jenner sex change and the bombshell interview Jenner gave Diane Sawyer on Friday night?

"I’m really happy for him that he is living his life the way he wants to live it,” the 34-year-old said of her stepfather. “And that he has found inner peace and just pure happiness. That’s what life is about.

In his revealing chat with Sawyer, Jenner said Kanye's wife was the first family member to know about his sexual identity crisis - and also that she has handled it better than anyone.

“I don’t know what life would be like if you always felt like you weren’t yourself,” Kim added. “As long as he is happy, and he wants to live his life, however he wants to live it, that just makes me happy. And I support him 100 percent."

But Kardashian admitted there's clearly been an adjustment period for the family, saying they have spoken to GLAAD and sat down for therapy sessions.

She also says Bruce is trying to make it as easy as possible for all his loved ones.

"Bruce wants us to feel as comfortable as possible and take everything at our own pace, and we love him for that, and we respect him for that," Kim said.

"Until that transition is done, we've learned that you do refer to him as him. He's been really, really good at explaining everything to us, even though it's really new.

"These have been newer feelings - not newer feelings for him, but for us to digest. He's done a really good job of walking us through it."

Family members, meanwhile, aren't the only ones reacting in a positive way to Jenner's revealing Q&A.
On Saturday night, Demi Lovato dedicated a rendition of the track "Warrior" to Bruce, referring to him as a "hero" and saying he's gonna help save so many lives.

Chinese Firm Caught Manufacturing Poisonous Condoms For Kenya

Kenya is currently dealing with many issues and here is just something else to think about. The Chinese police have raided several factories producing condoms with substandard material and poisonous heavy metals bound for Kenya.



According to Kenya Today, several provinces in China, including Shanghai, Guangdong and Shaanxi, have seen the fake condoms circulating.

The concern now for other African countries that are still fighting the war against HIV/AIDS is how many other factories are involved and how many of these fake branded condoms are in circulation.

Click on the image to read the full Kenya Today report.

Dr Alext Otti Rejects Abia Governorship Results, Heads To Tribunal

All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) Governorship Candidate in the just concluded election in Abia, Dr Alex Otti has rejected the governorship result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, , describing it as a rape on democracy.

 

He made this rejection while addressing the press in his Campaign Office along Bank road Umuahia, Abia state capital.

He called on the people of Abia , whom he said that the result has thrown into mourning to mourn no more, adding that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

He advised Abians not to resort to brigandage, thuggery, or do the wrong thing as he believes that two wrongs can make a right.

“I am calling on my people to remain calm and steadfast, they should ensure that they maintain the peace, the election has come , but is has not gone, the battle has just started”, Otti asserted.

He assured Abians that he will stop at nothing in ensuring that the mandate they have freely given to him , “not as an individual, but as agent of change, will never be stolen,adding that “evil can never triumph over good. And if it seems that it is triumphing, it is only momentry because good must prevail”, Otti stated.

“ We are going to challenge this charade at the tribunal, and we are very confident that with the wind of change in the entire country, that Change will not be obstructed in Abia state. We are standing on the part of justice because in this whole process, we have remained on the part of truth and refused to be lured into anything wrong and because we are standing on the part of justice, we must get justice. I know a lot of my supporters in Abia state are angry, if you go round the state today, it is like a dark cloud covering the whole state. There may be pockets of rejoicing, but those are pockets. Ninety percent of Abians are mourning. They are morning , not because somebody died, but because their will had been truncated, the mandate they had freely given, seem to have been stolen”, Otti said.

 

He called on Abians to remain prayerful because with God , all things are possible. “We are going to be victorious and our people will be liberated. I thank my people for coming out to express their wishes and I am assuring them that those wishes must be fulfilled, Otti said.

He said further that he thank God forgiving him the opportunity to know the level of rot in the state called Abia state, adding, “In addition to liberating Abia people, I have also added one more thing in my laundering lists of things to do in Abia state, as eradicating the rot that is in this state.

He explained that Abia people came out en mass on the two occasions to perform their civic responsibilities of electing their leader and their leaders.

“You have spoken with one voice, came out to say that you want a change which you demonstrated in your massive votes to us , but unfortunately, those who have held the state down, those who have put the state in the darkness that it has found itself today resorted to their usual tactics of truncating the will of the people .The reality is that you can fool some people sometimes, but you can not fool all the people all the time”, Otti said.

He regretted a situation , where the governor of the state with other PDP big wigs barged into a collation center to put undue pressure on the REC and RO. To make them reverse an already cancelled result of three Local Government areas, emphasizing that the party stands on the fact that those three local government areas still remain cancelled.

He wondered the type of pressure that would have been given to a professor of Medicine that made him to change his mind 45 minutes after pronouncing cancellation, stating that everything will be made open with time. 

Earlier, the National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh urged INEC to stick to its first decision of cancelling the three local government areas of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa Noeth.

He said that APGA, having won 11 , out of 24 members of the House of Assembly has the weight if justice learning on its side.

He said that APGA has rejected the result as announced by INEC and assured Abians that their mandate must be retrieved from PDP.

Photos: Billionaire Folorunsho Alakija meets world renowned pastor, Joel Osteen

 
Billionaire oil magnate, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija met with world renowned pastor, Joel Osteen in the US recently. 

Another photo of Mrs Alakija with Joel's mum, Mrs Dodie Osteen, after the cut.

F--k You: Kris Jenner's First Tweet Following Bruce Jenner Sex Change Interview on Friday

If you watched the much-hyped Bruce Jenner - Diane Sawyer interview on Friday, then you know that Kris Jenner was the only one of Bruce's three ex-wives who didn't offer a comment to ABC News.

There had been rumors of Kris struggling with Bruce Jenner's coming out but it seemed odd that a woman who lives to manipulate the press would have nothing to say about the biggest news surrounding her family since Kim's marriage to Kanye.

Several media outlets pounced on her, and notorious gossip blogger/conniving D-bag Perez Hilton thought he would take the opportunity to call Kris out for her perceived lack of sensitivity.

“Kris Jenner has no comment for ABC news and the #BruceJenner interview. His other two ex-wives give supportive statements,” Perez tweeted during the interview.

 Never one to miss an opportunity to put a hater in his place, Kris quickly shot back:
“@PerezHilton f**k you Perez no one asked me to comment ….and I’m sitting with Bruce now watching this show so let’s keep it real…LOL.”

Never mind the fact that it's now Kris' word against Diane Sawyer's regarding whether or not she was reached for comment, the K-clan momager's to the ever-douchey Perez was flawless in its simplicity.

Obviously, the star of the night was Bruce, and Kim and Kanye came in second and third, but Kris also shined, and proved that despite their many faults, the Kardashian-Jenner family knows how to rally around one another.

Abubakar Duduwale, Another Buhari supporter starts Trek from Yola to Abuja (see photos)

Suleiman Hashimu, the people's general supporter recently completed his trek from Lagos to Abuja and fortunately for him, he got to meet the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari.

 
Another supporter of the President-elect, Abubakar Duduwale, is set to embark on a similar journey, but this time, from Adamawa to Abuja.





Duduwale revealed to journalists in Yola on Saturday, April 25, as he prepared to embark on his journey that he was traveling by foot to celebrate the victory of Buhari at the presidential election.

He was said to have began his journey at Yola Gate on Yola-Numan highway at about 6:30 a.m.
Duduwale disclosed that he had wanted to commence the trek a day after the Independent National Electoral Commission announced Buhari as a winner but somebody from Lagos beat him to it.
He said: “The reason why I am trekking from Yola to Abuja is to express my joy and solidarity with President -elect Muhammadu Buhari. I want to trek from Yola to Abuja to witness the inauguration ceremony of President elect.”

Gorgeous: Mercy Johnson and Hubby Stun in Green Attires at Their Son’s Dedication Ceremony

Nollywood screen goddess, Mercy Johnson was gorgeous in green alongside her husband, Prince Okojie, as the two of them attended a church service where they had the dedication ceremony of their son Prince Henry Okojie who they welcomed a few months ago.

See the photos after the cut:

Things Ladies Do That Push Men Away

As a lady hoping to be married some day, there are certain things that push that great guy away from you and sometimes these turn-offs go both ways. It is hard to keep a man because of some these few things we do. Read details below:

Drama: This is definitely one of the top things that push men away. Women tend to be involved in more drama than men. It’s true that your boyfriend will be there to listen to you when you’re having issues, but being catty won’t highlight your best qualities. And being overly dramatic about some petty issue, such as why he didn’t call you first, will make him question the relationship. If you are a responsible lady or want to be one, try not to make a huge deal of something that can be easily fixed.

Possessiveness: Do you constantly check up on your boyfriend? If so, you might want to back off a little bit. When guys receive too many "Where are you?" texts, they tend to get annoyed. They don’t want to be in a relationship with their mom. You might think this is just you caring about him, but to him, it will feel like you don’t trust him, or worse, like you are trying to control him.

Playing dumb: Unfortunately, we ladies have all probably done this at some time or other. Truth is that playing dumb will lead you down the wrong path. He might eventually feel like you’re taking advantage of him or that you just aren’t capable of taking care of yourself, let alone you and the kid or kids when they start coming. Good guys believe a smart girl is much more worth keeping at home.

Clingy: A guy has got to have his own space! How much space a guy needs will vary. Some guys think that going out more then twice a month together is clingy, while others think that you never leaving his side is clingy. As a lady, make sure to observe your own man to figure out where he lies on the spectrum! When you give him what he wants, he will really appreciate your understanding and thoughtfulness – and he will try to make the time you do spend together that much more worthwhile.

Living in the past: It’s okay to share your past once you get comfortable with your new guy. Just don’t dwell on it. Not yours, not his, not "ours." Don’t compare him to a fling that you had before, a sugar daddy or ex-boyfriend. And don't compare yourself to anyone in his past – and definitely don’t dwell on a past disagreement that you two had. If you want him in your future, plan today with him.

Dishonesty: We hate being lied to. So why do we do it to a man we love? It doesn’t protect a relationship; in fact, it might destroy it. Communication is key in a relationship, so if you say things that you don’t mean, what’s the point? Try to express yourself and allow your man point out things that he doesn’t understand. Always make an attempt to talk things out. Believe me, it works wonders!

Remember that time you told him you loved that his shirt, even though really, you can't stand it? Well, what are you going to do if he starts wearing it all the time to please you? That is it, you have all the work to do if you want to enjoy your man and have him spend his money you wholeheartedly.

Power struggle: I always cringe when I hear people joking about who wears the pants in a relationship. There’s really no need to do that. Learn to be humble and work well with your man. Your friends are loyal to their own men at home, no matter what they tell you. So don’t be obsessive over who has more power. Love is what you should ask for from your man, not his authority. You can!