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”.