riday, October 24, 2008 Printer Friendly Version
How immigration officials and voodoo aid human trafficking business in Nigeria

By Musikilu Mojeed

They are supposed to be huge barriers to traffickers, but many in the anti-trafficking movement see some security agencies, embassy and airline officials as the major leak in the bid to drive the human merchants underground.


Emmanuel Obe and NAN.
Victims of human trafficking found in a container.


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Most of those contacted in the course of this investigation were unanimous that human trafficking has continued to thrive in Nigeria because of collusion between bad eggs among security, immigration, embassy and airline officials and traffickers. These officials often take bribes in exchange for facilitating smooth passage across the borders for traffickers and their victims.

A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told this reporter that France and some other European countries had complained bitterly and repeatedly "that some of our immigration and border officials and airlines had been looking the other way and allowing traffickers to have their way."

The Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation said some of its international partners, including its funders had raised the same concern. "It is sad that some officials are colluding with traffickers. It is a confirmation of the widely held belief that you can get anything done in Nigeria as long as you are ready to pay a bribe," WOTCLEF Executive Director, Vero Umaru said.

Ostensibly to get to the root of this and similar allegations, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons, it was gathered, for four months late last year, collaborated with security operatives in eight countries for a joint and simultaneous covert investigation into human trafficking ring in the country.

The countries involved in the project include Nigeria, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland and Netherland. At the end of the operation, which climaxed on September 24, 2007 with operatives striking simultaneously in major airports in the countries, 56 Nigerians, including top immigration officials were reportedly arrested in the eight countries.

An unknown number of victims were also said to have been rescued. The names of the immigration officers and other officials that were implicated are yet to be made public. NAPTIP's Director of Investigation, Mohammed Babandede, confirmed the operation but declined further details.

He however said, "All I can tell you is that all those implicated are being investigated. And the Comptroller-General of Immigration is not even ready to cover them up. I will also like to tell you that our investigations have shown that traffickers are well-heeled as they have money to corrupt airliners, immigration officials and several other agencies in order to get through. They give bribes to people to procure both genuine and fake passports and visa with which to ship out their victims out of Nigeria."

The Head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. John Egwu, however said he was not aware that his men were colluding with traffickers. "Nobody has brought that to my attention. I cannot deny that outright because of the tendency of Nigerians to cut corners, but I don't have any such case on my hand," the Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration said. "But I am not ruling out the existence of bad eggs among us. As far as I know, our men have done so much in terms of apprehending traffickers."

Voodoo and the trafficking business

Another major factor oiling the wheel of trafficking in the country is voodoo. Insiders in the trafficking business say once arrangements for victims' trips abroad are completed, traffickers seal the deal by taking the victims to shrines of voodoo priests for oath taking. There, victims are made to swear that they would never reveal the identities of their traffickers to anyone if arrested whether in the course of the journey or in the destination countries.

A repented former trafficker confirmed that voodoo, known as juju in the Nigerian parlance, is playing a great but nauseating role in the human trafficking business.

When traffickers are arrested in Nigeria, victims have often failed to show up in court to testify against them for fear that they would die if they violate the oaths they took. In administering the oaths, the source said traffickers usually collect the finger nails, menstrual blood and pubic hairs of the girls in preparing concoctions. NAPTIP's Deputy Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Mr. Abdulrahim Shaibu, said his agency had had difficulty prosecuting traffickers because "victims are afraid of juju and are hardly forthcoming."

Babandede corroborated Shaibu. "We have found out that 90 per cent of girls that have been trafficked to Europe came from Delta and Edo States and were taken to shrines to take oaths of secrecy. When they reach their destination, they take a second round of oaths. So, they are hardly willing to testify against their traffickers in courts. Our first conviction succeeded because we raided a shrine and arrested the chief priest," he said. At the time, in 2004, NAPTIP was prosecuting one Sarah Okoya, the first trafficker to be jailed in Nigeria, for attempting to traffic six girls to Spain for prostitution. But because of the oath of secrecy that they had taken, the girls failed to show up in court to testify against Okoya. NAPTIP was frustrated and it was on the verge of losing the case that it decided to raid the shrine of the priest who administered the oaths on the girls. NAPTIP eventually won the case as Okoya was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

One Samson Ovenseri was in 2006 accused by NAPTIP of having deceived a girl into traveling to Spain to work in a salon for a woman that needed her service. Ovenseri was arrested after the man, who was taking the victim to Spain on his behalf, was arrested at Seme border by immigration officials. The anti-trafficking agency was able to establish that the victim was actually being taken to that European country for prostitution, but the victim did not cooperate with NAPTIP officials because she had been taken to a shrine to take an oath of secrecy. Ovenseri got a one-year jail term.

While NAPTIP was prosecuting one Franca Asiboja, who was eventually jailed for seven years for trafficking young girls to Burkina Faso for prostitution, it came to light in court that Asiboja had compelled her victims to take oaths of secrecy and loyalty before a shrine called Ogoje, manned by an old priestess. For the five months that they prostituted in Ouagadougou, before they were arrested by security agencies and repatriated to Nigeria, each of the girls reportedly paid 500,000 CFA to Asiboja in daily remittances.

The agency was only able to make headway in another case when the trafficker that was then being prosecuted, Constance Omoruyi, disclosed the identity of the priest, who administered oaths on her two victims, to investigators. At the time, the victims had vanished but the priest was made to testify in court. The court jailed Omoruyi for one year.

Egwu argues that it is the oath-taking ritual that is making the Nigerian human trafficking industry thrive. He said without the practice, the country's trafficking ring would have long been busted and traffickers driven underground. "Because of the oaths that traffickers administer on their victims, the entire trafficking business is shrouded in so much secrecy. For fear that they might die if they violate the terms of their oaths, victims hardly cooperate with investigators and hardly show up in court to testify against traffickers," the immigration official explained.

He cited the example of a Germany-bound woman who was arrested by immigration officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in mid-September 2008. When interrogated by officials, the victim first insisted that she was traveling unaccompanied to visit her father in Germany. For a long time, she refused to cooperate with investigators until she was pressed to confess that she had taken an oath never to reveal the identity of those who were taking her to Germany. "When we assured her that we had the wherewithal to render the oath she had taken ineffective, she decided to open up to us," Egwu said.

Babandede also said he and other investigators in his agency are regularly threatened by traffickers who he said send threat letters and make calls warning them to slow down on the war against trafficking or be prepared to lose their lives. "Prepare for war. Your family will get the result. Idiot," read one threat message sent to Babandede's telephone by an unknown person. "But we are not afraid. We will continue to do our job until we drive majority of the traffickers out of business," he said.

Tightening the noose

Law enforcement officials in Nigeria are fighting back ferociously against human traffickers, as new laws and a more aggressive awareness campaign take effect. The United State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has rated Nigeria as having made progress in efforts to address trafficking in persons.

"It (Nigeria) increased the staffing of its National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons to over 150 people. Officials delivered lectures on the new anti-trafficking law to immigration officials, judges and magistrates. They also delivered copies of the law to the police command in every state and various media offices, and discussed it on talk shows and state programs.

"NAPTIP established a National Investigation Task Force that set up small units in 11 states with the worst trafficking problems. It trained NITF on the provisions of the anti-TIP law, care of victims, Interpol standards, and corruption and human rights issues," the agency noted in a recent report.

To address the problem of law enforcement officers and immigration and airport authorities collaborating in trafficking across Nigeria's borders, it was gathered that NAPTIP has stepped up its intelligence arm and briefed the heads of police and immigration on the issue. The result is that both the police and the immigration service have set up anti-trafficking units, making it more difficult for perpetrators of the trade to operate. NAPTIP has also conducted trainings for border officials across the country and has also met with several major traditional leaders to raise their awareness about trafficking.

Because the war against human trafficking is getting tougher and tougher here, Nigerian traffickers are moving across the border into neighbouring Benin Republic, Ghana, Cameroun and Niger Republic, where they believe they could operate more freely, said Orakue Arinze, head of media and publicity at NAPTIP.

Some Nigerian girls were recently rescued in Ghana while they were being assisted by Ghana immigration officials to get to Europe.

UNICEF Protection Programme chief, Robert Limlim, is hopeful that the problem will subside now that the government has taken more aggressive measures: "Nigeria is clearly struggling with its own major challenges, but also using this to rally and even include other countries to fight this ring of criminals," he said.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/24/415.html

Una still believe say juju no dey when Nigerian immigration don confirm it?

Dark age.

what is dark age?

@PepERSprAY,

Did you post that as evidence that juju is not a fraudulent psychological contraption?

Better go read that article well before trying to impress toddlers. The politics section of Nairaland is read by very enlightened folks, not toddlers who still wallow in the darkness of ignorance.

I'll be back to demolish any points you may want to score based on that article you posted. Meanwhile, you can try to use some juju to stop me from coming back.

@PepERSprAY,

Did you post that as evidence that juju is not a fraudulent psychological contraption?

Better go read that article well before trying to impress toddlers. The politics section of Nairaland is read by very enlightened folks, not toddlers who still wallow in the darkness of ignorance.

I'll be back to demolish any points you may want to score based on that article you posted. Meanwhile, you can try to use some juju to stop me from coming back

Are you calling every single staff of the Nigerian immigration service a slowpoke for endorsing this report?

Not even as good as dark age.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages

PepERSprAY:

Are you calling every single staff of the Nigerian immigration service a slowpoke for endorsing this report?

Nigeria is still where it is today because majority of nigerian reason like you. . .what is juju. . .why dont nigerians use it to better themselves and the country. . . what is juju. . . . dark age as some one here wrote. . .

PepERSprAY:

Una still believe say juju no dey when Nigerian immigration don confirm it?

yeah because the nigerian bureaucracy is a beacon for geniuses.

yeah because the nigerian bureaucracy is a beacon for geniuses.

why you dey yab us na?

One of the reasons why we are where we are today is because of our utmost belief in superstitions. Whenever we are not doing our duties right or something goes wrong, we conveniently blame it on juju,

PepERSprAY:


Voodoo and the trafficking business

Another major factor oiling the wheel of trafficking in the country is voodoo. Insiders in the trafficking business say once arrangements for victims' trips abroad are completed, traffickers seal the deal by taking the victims to shrines of voodoo priests for oath taking. There, victims are made to swear that they would never reveal the identities of their traffickers to anyone if arrested whether in the course of the journey or in the destination countries.

A repented former trafficker confirmed that voodoo, known as juju in the Nigerian parlance, is playing a great but nauseating role in the human trafficking business.

When did taking an oath not to divulge information evidence that juju has any potency? An unfortunate soul is kidnapped and taken to some make-shift structure decorated with human skulls, tiger skin, crocodile teeth, plenty of dried snake skin, a big pot filled with red palm oil, six well-preserved human baby skeletons and dried gorilla testicles hanging from transparent bags. The victim is made to kneel down in front of a stone slab, a small cut is made on her right palm, her blood is mixed in a bowl with other suitable "ingredients", which include prior-submitted menstrual blood, finger nails, pubic hair, some hair from her head and waste water collected after a shower. Some chants are made, a white cloth used to cover her, the mixture is cooked in a pot, and cooled. Then the mixture is poured on her head while she's wrapped in the white cloth. She's made to recite some gibberish and warned that if she ever reveals the identity of the traffickers, that Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana will kill her and her entire family!

Is this the juju? Rubbish!

When traffickers are arrested in Nigeria, victims have often failed to show up in court to testify against them for fear that they would die if they violate the oaths they took. In administering the oaths, the source said traffickers usually collect the finger nails, menstrual blood and pubic hairs of the girls in preparing concoctions. NAPTIP's Deputy Director of Prosecution and Legal Services, Mr. Abdulrahim Shaibu, said his agency had had difficulty prosecuting traffickers because "victims are afraid of juju and are hardly forthcoming."

The victims fail to show up out of fear that Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana will kill her and her entire family! Fear does not violate nature's laws!

Babandede corroborated Shaibu. "We have found out that 90 per cent of girls that have been trafficked to Europe came from Delta and Edo States and were taken to shrines to take oaths of secrecy. When they reach their destination, they take a second round of oaths. So, they are hardly willing to testify against their traffickers in courts. Our first conviction succeeded because we raided a shrine and arrested the chief priest," he said. At the time, in 2004, NAPTIP was prosecuting one Sarah Okoya, the first trafficker to be jailed in Nigeria, for attempting to traffic six girls to Spain for prostitution. But because of the oath of secrecy that they had taken, the girls failed to show up in court to testify against Okoya. NAPTIP was frustrated and it was on the verge of losing the case that it decided to raid the shrine of the priest who administered the oaths on the girls. NAPTIP eventually won the case as Okoya was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

Wait o! Shrine raided? Whose shrine was raided? So, police men, probably hungry and tired, were woken up, given rifles, told to stand at attention and listen: "Gentlemen, we are going to raid a place in the bush, a shrine". The men looked at each other and laughed. Why? They know that once again, they are going to test their rifles (product of science and technology) against juju (absolute nonsense with zero efficacy). They marched to the shrine, pummeled the priest, arrested him and his assistants, broke some of the nonsense artifacts in the shrine (best described as elements of fear) and whisked the priest to the station. He was put in a cell made of metal that no juju can help him out. Hmmmmm, interesting.

Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana's shrine was raided and she/he/it ran away at the sight of men armed with technology - our trusty AK-47!

When juju go get liver fight AK-47? Weakling!

One Samson Ovenseri was in 2006 accused by NAPTIP of having deceived a girl into traveling to Spain to work in a salon for a woman that needed her service. Ovenseri was arrested after the man, who was taking the victim to Spain on his behalf, was arrested at Seme border by immigration officials. The anti-trafficking agency was able to establish that the victim was actually being taken to that European country for prostitution, but the victim did not cooperate with NAPTIP officials because she had been taken to a shrine to take an oath of secrecy. Ovenseri got a one-year jail term.

This juju thing is getting more ridiculous. How come Samson Ovenseri was arrested? No be to just use leg touch ground and man pikin don disappear? Shoooo, which ones na?

Okay, let's say Samson was unprepared when they arrested him, why not tell one of his boys through his lawyer to make some potion that will instantly take him out of the prison and straight inside a comfortable house in Madrid? Abegi, make we hear word. Juju ko jeje ni.

While NAPTIP was prosecuting one Franca Asiboja, who was eventually jailed for seven years for trafficking young girls to Burkina Faso for prostitution, it came to light in court that Asiboja had compelled her victims to take oaths of secrecy and loyalty before a shrine called Ogoje, manned by an old priestess. For the five months that they prostituted in Ouagadougou, before they were arrested by security agencies and repatriated to Nigeria, each of the girls reportedly paid 500,000 CFA to Asiboja in daily remittances.

Our police men are doing well o! So, despite all her jujuness, she was still arrested. Why are they wasting government time in making the juju that can make them escape from police detention by clapping their hands or stamping their feet on the ground?

When the old priestess see our friendly AK-47-wielding boys come pay her a visit, she'll smile knowing the game is up! Juju is a psychological contraption that affects those who are afraid of something that has zero potency.

The agency was only able to make headway in another case when the trafficker that was then being prosecuted, Constance Omoruyi, disclosed the identity of the priest, who administered oaths on her two victims, to investigators. At the time, the victims had vanished but the priest was made to testify in court. The court jailed Omoruyi for one year.

Shuoooo! Constance Omoruyi disclosed the identity of the priest and the guy no just kpeme one time? Na wa o

Ever wondered why none of the three legal systems in effect in Nigeria recognize juju? Is it possible to lose N20 million in a business transaction and take your evil step mother to court on the grounds that she confessed to being a witch and used her powers to make you lose the money? Even in Nigeria, the judge will laugh at you!

Egwu argues that it is the oath-taking ritual that is making the Nigerian human trafficking industry thrive. He said without the practice, the country's trafficking ring would have long been busted and traffickers driven underground. "Because of the oaths that traffickers administer on their victims, the entire trafficking business is shrouded in so much secrecy. For fear that they might die if they violate the terms of their oaths, victims hardly cooperate with investigators and hardly show up in court to testify against traffickers," the immigration official explained.

Good old fear at work, nothing more. People are afraid that if they cooperated with the police that Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana will strike them dead instantly. Story!

He cited the example of a Germany-bound woman who was arrested by immigration officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in mid-September 2008. When interrogated by officials, the victim first insisted that she was traveling unaccompanied to visit her father in Germany. For a long time, she refused to cooperate with investigators until she was pressed to confess that she had taken an oath never to reveal the identity of those who were taking her to Germany. "When we assured her that we had the wherewithal to render the oath she had taken ineffective, she decided to open up to us," Egwu said.

The only way to free a victim of the psychology of juju, in that case, was to use psychology on her. She opened up after they brought in one very old man, dressed in traditionally intimidating attire. She looked into the girl's eyes, held her hands, and told her: "Your spirit is unusually strong, and your type is rare. The oath they administered does not have any effect on you. I have seen it in your eyes. You're special and the power of that priest was not strong enough to make the oath work. My daughter, you are free!" The girl wept and then opened up to the detectives.

Well-grounded psychology - the old man made her feel special and unique and with the authority naturally bestowed on the aged in a society that respects and honors her old, he told her "My daughter, you are free!"

To all those who are still under the bondage of this psychological contraption called juju, you too can be free. Start thinking, start asking hard questions, and you'll be free!

@PepERSprAY,

Please come and defend your juju here. Why are you running away?

its only on Juju / Dead body drinking water / ethnic wahala threads that you find pepperspray on,

its only on Juju / Dead body drinking water / ethnic wahala threads that you find pepperspray on,

That is what is raining in Naija now.

PepERSprAY:

That is what is raining in Naija now.

Raining in Nigeria? You mean juju dey fall on Nigerians like rain?

Yet another reason to stay away from that country.

Raining in Nigeria? You mean juju dey fall on Nigerians like rain? Shocked

Yet another reason to stay away from that country.

Are you Nigerian?. If juju is not real, why are you staying away from Nigeria because it falls like rain?

PepERSprAY:

Are you Nigerian?. If juju is not real, why are you staying away from Nigeria because it falls like rain?

The One and Only Funmi! How about that marriage proposal? You still pondering whether joining my harem?

@ pepperspray

and where in Nigeria is it 'raining'?

PepERSprAY:

Are you Nigerian?. If juju is not real, why are you staying away from Nigeria because it falls like rain?

@PepERSprAY,

Why are you ignoring the travails of the popular juju Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana in protecting her shrines from MOPOL?

RichyBlacK:

@PepERSprAY,

Why are you ignoring the travails of the popular juju Ogbrobogekezgbatikolafkagogbana in protecting her shrines from MOPOL?

Spelling that name alone will conjure the biggest juju illusion in your mind. . . kiri kiri (tiny) stars are flying out of my eyes as I type. . .

grafikdon:

  Spelling that name alone will conjure the biggest juju illusion in your mind. . . kiri kiri (tiny) stars are flying out of my eyes as I type. . . 

LOL! You're right. The name na ogbonge juju.

'Deliver us from all evil' what are the evil? if u believe in God why doubt d existence of d DEVIL? if u don't, have u ever imagine how d devil works? or who are his agents? 'Principalities and powers' what are they? if there is no juju(Satan) why pray?nigeria is the DEVIL's throne interms of spiritualism and other evil deed why?that should b d question. If u like draw scientist from d rest of d world to find scientific answers to evil(or

spiritual mystery in that country"them no go fit" other question,why them no fit take am do better thing? i beg u if u no take BABA GOD hold urside no try those "Kpians" oh

When are Nigerians going to realize that ALL juju claims are fraudulent?

This fraud has lasted too long!

Those fraudsters called juju priests should be tried and jailed! I'll be waiting to read the report on their escape from prison through juju. Nonsense!

These con men use their cheap trickery to keep young girls into prostitution in Europe. How very shameful!

^^^ RICHYBLACK I don't know how JUJU works ooh. but it works. and perhaps the girls being trafficked believe in it strongly enough not to tell-tale on their Traffickers

RichyBlacK:

[size=18pt]Benin chief, 4 juju priests arrested for human trafficking[/size]
Cover Stories Sep 7, 2009
By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—THE National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), Benin zone, has arrested a Benin Chief, and four juju priests over alleged involvement in human trafficking.

The agency also alleged administering of oath to some girls who are trafficked abroad for prostitution.
According to the Benin zonal Head of NAPTIP, Barrister (Mrs) Olufunke Abiola, who spoke to Vanguard on the arrest of the Chief and the juju priests, the arrest of the Benin Chief of Benin Kingdom, is sequel to a petition by one Mrs Juliet Osifo who claimed that the chief sponsored her daughter,  to Italy, enroute Libya but was trapped in Libya after she was arrested by the Libyan authorities.

She expressed worries over what she described as the incessant denials of the “fact that young girls of Benin decent are still in human trafficking and taken away for prostitution.

“Now as you would see, there is a very big case on hand that would prove to every body that no one is exempted, whether Benin, Urhobo, Itsekiri or Yoruba, every body is involved in this and it must stop.

“The young girls are ignorant. Like I said, sometimes, we find it difficult to prove a case against these traffickers because the girl will not want to expose her trafficker and apart from that, they are put under oath.

“So, this zone has been very very busy looking for all the juju priests that put some of the girls under oath. Some of them are even in our cell.

“We asked them to go and renounce that oath of the life of that girl so that the girl can feel free to be a human being because the oath ties them down spiritually.”

The Chief,  who spoke to Vanguard, admitted that his daughter in Italy requested he should bring the lady to Italy to assist her in her beer parlour, but that she was, however, stuck in Libya.  “So what we are doing now is to see how we can bring her back to Nigeria so that she can stay with her parents,”he said.

Meanwhile, over 500 indigenes of Edo state who have been languishing in Libyan jails arrived Benin weekend, just as they appealed to both the state and federal governments to assist their colleagues who are still left in the Arab country to come back home to avert further deaths of the Nigerians.

What's the actual name of his chieftancy title? Or was he trying to remain anonymous?

"Benin Chief of Benin kingdom" is certainly not a legitimate chief. Not doubting the story, just surprised that he could somehow remain anonymous after being arrested but that they would disclose that he was a chief.