A
20-year-old Nigerian lady who just returned to the country from the
dreaded Libya, has narrated her harrowing experience in the African,
getting pregnant, being helpless and more.
Some of the Nigerian victims of inhuman treatment who returned last
year from Libya and were rehabilitated by the Edo state government
through the Committee against Human Trafficking, may be back in Libya
after they could not sustain themselves economically in Nigeria,
according to Vanguard.
20-year-old Vivian Imunero, who is among the 65 who returned,
penultimate week, lamented that her younger sister was recently
sponsored to Libya by a kingpin, said to be a Nigerian woman residing in
Italy.
“As we speak, the same woman who took me to Libya sponsored my
younger sister’s trip to the country and she is over there now involved
in prostitution. I am not happy about it. I understand how things work
there and I know it is not good because they don´t use condom there. I
was raped in a place called Gatron in Libya”, she said.
“This happened when we were going to Saba. Our vehicle parked
there and they said we were going to sleep there. These Libyan men will
come to the section where they keep women; they will wake us up one
after the other and rape us. They will put gun to your head and you must
follow them. But I thank God I did not contract any disease after all”.
Pregnant, helpless
Speaking on how she became pregnant for a Libyan man, Vivian said,
“He is a white man that pushes people to Italy. He saw me and told me
he wanted to help me which he did even though he abandoned me later.
When I went to prison, I was supposed to pay money before they freed me
but I did not pay a dime because he came to free me.
"I travelled with the help of one guy called Biggy. He resided
at Upper Sakponba Road here in Benin-City. Somebody in our village took
me to him and he contacted one ‘Madam’ operating from Italy. Biggy gave
me N15, 000 that day. As we speak ‘Madam’ is threatening to kill me
because we took oath before I left Nigeria. Biggie and one other man
took me to a native doctor on the orders of ‘Madam’ to take the oath.
"We were two girls and we took oath that if we got there and
ran away or slept with her husband or failed to pay her money, juju
should kill us. They killed a chicken and gave us the heart raw to eat.
Then they gave us water to bath and asked us to go. Biggy is the one
taking girls to Italy through Libya and, from there, ‘Madam’ will
arrange how the girls get to their final destination.
"‘Madam’ is angry that I am supposed to wait in Libya until I
could make it to Italy because she wanted me to come and be making money
for her through prostitution. She didn’t care how I fed while I was in
Libya; she never sent me money to eat. I was even raped and she did not
care”.
She went on: “I discovered I was pregnant on April 26, 2017
when I went for test. I felt bad because I knew I was young to have a
baby, besides there was nobody on ground to help me. However, I decided
to leave it because I remembered my mother always said a child is a
blessing. I just prayed that God will help me and that is why I named
the baby Treasure.
“I spent two years in Libya. I once entered a boat heading to
Italy but the boat was arrested on the high seas by some Libyans who
took us back to Libya. I called ‘Madam’ to inform him that they had
taken me back to Libya. She started threatening that she was going to
make trouble with my family and I in Nigeria. Then I met this man who
was helping people to get to Italy. I had no option than to stay with
him and he took care of my needs. He tried to help me to cross to Italy
five times but those five times they arrested me.
On the fifth occasion,
May 5, 2017, when I was arrested, I was a month pregnant then.
"Those who arrested me took me to prison where I was
ill-treated. All the guards there wanted to sleep with me even with my
pregnancy. I refused. One particular man there insisted he must sleep
with me but I told him that it is forbidden in my place for a man to
sleep with a pregnant woman. Because of that, he starved me of food for
several weeks and even beat me up. I never knew my baby will survive.
"I spent six months in the prison. My parents thought I had
died because they were not hearing from me. On October 30, 2017, the
father of my baby came to free me from the prison. I gave birth on
December 20, 2017. Then I started having issues with the father of my
baby and he left me. The only thing I can say I achieved in Libya is
this baby girl. I left Nigeria because I had no helper”.
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