DW honors Nigerian reporter Tobore Ovuorie for defending the voiceless


Tobore Ovuorie is DW's 2021 Freedom of Speech Award winner. The investigative journalist's undercover work has given a voice to those hushed in Nigerian society. Her courage almost cost her her life.
Screams filled the dark corners of the high-security camp. The young women around Tobore Ovuorie scrambled to escape into the night. She was frozen from horror. Her clothes splattered with blood, and her eyes transfixed on the two bodiless heads that just tumbled to the ground. Everything turned black, her consciousness drifting from her body.


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When Ovuorie recounts her experience from seven years ago, her eyes still fill with tears. The then 33-year-old investigative reporter went undercover in Nigeria's sex trafficking circles for seven months. Her reporting shed light on criminal syndicates involved in prostitution, human traffickers and organ trading.

'Living the story'
Weeks before the investigation, Ovuorie had been approached by an editor who asked her to shed light on sex trafficking in Nigeria by speaking to victims. In an interview with DW, she laughs as she recalls the conversation, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. "They don't write on their forehead: Hey! I am going to be trafficked."

Freedom of Speech Award 2021 | Preisträgerin Tobore Ovuorie aus Nigeria
Tobore Ovuorie posed as a prostitute in Nigeria's sex trafficking circles to get to the core of the story
For her, there was no question about it: "We had to go through the process ourselves. Otherwise, the story would be wishy-washy." Ovuorie tells DW, clapping her hands loudly to emphasize her words. In her work, she has no room for compromises.


DW Director-General Peter Limbourg said Ovuorie's courageous reporting earned her this year's Freedom of Speech Award.

"The Freedom of Speech award highlights the importance of transparency in our work, and it shows the importance of courage in our society. I think the award will help Tobore Ovuorie in her work and hopefully also for her security," Limbourg said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 80% of girls arriving in Europe from Nigeria are potential victims of sex trafficking. Ovuorie's best friend was one of them. She succumbed to HIV/AIDS after having been trafficked to Europe.

Back in 2013, Ovuorie was driven by a clear-cut goal: Finding clarity on what had happened to her friend and many others she knew by uncovering the personal stories of thousands of victims trafficked from Nigeria to Italy every year.

"I had so many gaping holes in me that I needed to fill," Ovuorie said about the investigation in an interview with Pulse Nigeria.

With the help of her colleagues at Nigeria's online newspaper Premium Times, she went undercover in Nigeria's sex trafficking circles for seven months. She shed her own identity and changed her clothes, hair, makeup and even how she spoke to enter a new life. She posed as a prostitute and was taken in by a love-vendor, first in Lagos, then in Abuja.

Throughout her 2013 investigation, the dark underbelly of Nigeria's crime syndicates imprinted on her own body. Her hair was chopped off, she was beaten, abused, hospitalized and barely escaped murder.

A few months into the investigation, Ovuorie got the go-ahead from her love-vendor to go to Italy. Together with a group of girls, she was smuggled to Benin. The experiences she made during the journey leave her unable to watch horror films to this day.

Ovuorie witnessed two trafficking victims being decapitated, their organs destined for the black market. Once she arrived in Cotonou, she managed to escape with the help of her colleagues.

Many Nigerian women are lured by sex traffickers who then exploit the women once they reach Europe

Growing up in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, Ovuorie knew she wanted to be a journalist before entering school. Every week, she mailed her handwritten stories and poems to Nigerian newspapers. Whenever they were turned down, she remained undeterred and sent in more stories the following week.

While in secondary school, the mother of one of her classmates was wrongly accused of killing her husband through witchcraft. Ovuorie called out the injustice, but her protest was not tolerated.

"I kept hearing: 'You are a girl, you have to keep quiet, you talk too much,'" she tells DW. "There was anger, a sort of rage in me. I did not want to conform," Ovuorie says as she shakes her head in defiance.


TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

Fleeing poverty

Our investigation began in Benin City, capital of Edo State. Almost everyone we spoke to has at least a friend or a family member in Europe. More than three-quarters of illegal prostitutes in Italy are from this region. Due to high unemployment among the youths in Edo state, many young women see fewer prospects here. They seek for a better life in Europe instead, not fully aware of the dangers.

Catholic Sister, Bibiana Emenaha, has tried for years to warn young Nigerian women before they ended up in Europe. "Many are lured with false promises," she told us. The traffickers promise jobs such as babysitting or hair dressing, but that quickly turn out to be a lie. Once the young women are in Europe, they end up on the streets.

Schleuser in einer Hinterhof-Bar (Foto: Scholz/Kriesch)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
"The people are greedy"
After long negotiations, a trafficker agreed to an interview with us. He called himself Steve and claimed he has already transported more than 100 Nigerians all the way to Libya. He wouldn’t speak about the people behind his business. He said he was simply a service provider. "The people here in Edo State are greedy. They are willing to do anything for a better life," Steve said.

Straße zwischen der nigerianisch-nigrischen Grenze und Agadez (Foto: Scholz/Kriesch)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Dangerous Sahara journey
For 600 euros ($666) per person, Steve organizes the journey from Nigeria to Libya. "Most people know how dangerous the journey is through the Sahara," the human smuggler told us. Many people die very often along the way. "That is the risk," Steve said, who brings the migrants personally to Agadez in Niger. A colleague then takes over from there.

Reporter Adrian Kriesch mit Tuareg-Kopfbedeckung (Foto: Scholz)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Agadez: A hub for human traffickers
The desert town of Agadez was the most dangerous part of our research trip. The town thrives on human and drug trafficking and foreigners are often kidnapped for ransom. We could only move around with armed guards and had to wear traditional head cover to be less visible.

Sultan von Agadez, Omar Ibrahim Omar, in seinem Palast (Foto: Scholz/Kriesch)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Solving the migration crisis
Like many others in the desert town, Omar Ibrahim Omar, the Sultan of Agadez, sees human trafficking as a problem that cannot be solved in Agadez. He is asking for more money from the international community. His argument: If Europe does not want more migrants to keep coming through the Mediterranean Sea, Europe should give more support to Niger.

LKW mit Migranten verlässt Agadez
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
The "Monday Caravan" to Libya
For months now, several trucks with migrants from Agadez set out every Monday shortly before sunset towards the north. The crisis in Libya has contributed to human traffickers being able to reach the Mediterranean Sea without the usual controls. And we soon learned that the authorities here in Niger have little interests in their activities.

Sozialarbeiterin Lisa Bertini im Interview (Foto: Scholz/Kriesch)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
"The girls are getting younger"
Many of the migrants from Nigeria land on the streets in Italy. Social worker Lisa Bertini works with foreign prostitutes. "They are coming more and more," she told us. According to official figures, about 1,000 Nigerians went to Italy across the Mediterranean in 2014. In 2015, the figure climbed to 4,000. "And the girls are getting younger," the social worker said.

Reporter Jan-Philipp Scholz, Adrian Kriesch und Henry Ogunjimi
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Looking for a "Madam"
With help from a Nigerian colleague, we discovered an alleged "Madam" in northern Italy. A Nigerian host in Italy is referred to as "Madam," she is at the top of a smaller trafficking network. The madam we found lived in a suburb of Florence and one victim made serious accusations against the her: "She has been beating us and forced us into prostitution," the victim said.

Italien Florenz Bild 10: Mutmaßliche Madame in der Nähe von Florenz
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
'Madam' and her girls
As we confronted the supposed "Madam" about the accusations, she admited accommodating six young Nigerian women in her house, but denied forcing them into prostitution: "It's just something young Nigerians here do." After our interview, we handed our research to the Italian public prosecutor's office.

Anti-Menschenhandels-Aktivistin Schwester Monika Uchikwe (Foto: Kriesch/Scholz)
TRACKING NIGERIA'S HUMAN TRAFFICKERS
Cheap sexual satisfaction
Sister Monika Uchikwe has long been criticizing the inactivity of the Italian authorities. For eight years, she has cared for victims of human trafficking. She explained in rage as we asked about the customers. The men always want cheap satisfaction – sex with a Nigerian woman on the streets costs only 10 euros. "Without this possibility, this problem would not exist," she said.

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She locked herself in her room and put pen to paper, recording every detail of the story. When her father discovered her notes in her drawer, he encouraged her to utilize her writing to fight injustice.

"This is what I decided to do for the rest of my life. To stand up for the voiceless with the power of the written word."

As a young reporter in the newsroom, Ovuorie had to dismantle biases against women in Nigeria's journalism industry. "Females were the ones reporting on family life, fashion and entertainment. The hard-hitting stuff was reserved for men."

Fighting on
The mental wounds Ovuorie incurred during her investigation into Nigeria's sex trafficking cartels have not fully healed until today. She struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Her Ghanaian counterpart, investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, told DW that Ovuorie's ability to withstand shocks defines her exceptional journalism.

"We thought at a stage in her career that her work would come to an end, but she came back very strong. She is driven by the wrongs she sees in society. She wants to make sure that vulnerable groups, women, and children, get a fair share of the cake."

Following her 2013 investigation, Ovuorie has continued to choose hard-hitting topics. She has told the stories of trafficking victims in Libya and shed light on the stigmatization of Nigerian children living with HIV. Currently, she is researching the involvement of embassy employees in human trafficking.

When asked whether she regrets putting her life in danger for her reporting, Ovuorie doesn't hesitate: "I don't regret it at all. It has caused people to rethink. I can go to bed and sleep soundly. That, for me, is purposeful living."

Nevertheless, she says safety is an issue: "I still receive strange calls from people threatening me and sending very terrible text messages. It's an attempt to scare you away. It has taught me to watch my back and to be very security conscious. I have to move quite often, I can never to stay in the same place for long."

Ok ooo

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