78 Nigerian Girls Rescued from Sex Slavery Return from Abidjan

Seventy-eight Nigerian girls and women trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire for sex slavery returned to the country in the early hours of Sunday after a harrowing rescue operation coordinated by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Air Peace, and civil society actors.

Originally scheduled to arrive Lagos by 3:30 pm on Saturday, their Air Peace flight eventually touched down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) after 11:00 pm, following delays caused by diplomatic hitches with Ivorian authorities.

Among the returnees were 75 young females aged 13 to 30, three babies, and two adult males. Four girls—some as young as 14—were discovered to be pregnant. Many of the victims were malnourished and physically battered, visibly showing signs of the ordeal they had endured.

Air Peace Chairman, Allen Onyema, who funded the entire evacuation and pledged to cover all 150 victims’ medical treatment at Duchess Hospital, described the mission as a patriotic duty.

“This is not about money. We lost over N400 million due to the delay, but there’s no amount that equals saving lives,” he said.

He also applauded activist Martins Otse, better known as VeryDarkMan, for raising the alarm that triggered the operation.

“If he hadn’t spoken out, this may never have come to light. He is the hero of this mission,” Onyema added.

NAPTIP Declares Manhunt for Traffickers

Addressing the press at 12:20 am, NAPTIP Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, vowed that all perpetrators of the trafficking ring would be brought to justice. She confirmed that two key suspects had already been arrested in Abuja, and two girls rescued from their custody.

“This is a reaffirmation of our unshakable commitment to fighting human trafficking,” she said. “To the traffickers, let this be a warning: Nigeria will hunt you down.”

She also revealed plans to provide shelter, rehabilitation, and skills acquisition training for the rescued victims who wish to remain under NAPTIP care.

Inside the Horror: Victims Recount Trauma

Some of the girls recounted terrifying experiences, including being forced into prostitution, physically assaulted with planks embedded with nails, and subjected to drug environments. One 14-year-old, Love, said she was trafficked under the guise of working as a domestic help but ended up in a gold-mining bush camp, where she was repeatedly beaten and coerced into sex work.

“They took our phones, made us go half-naked at night, and beat us if we didn’t bring back money,” she said.

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“My patron beat me with a nail-infested plank until I bled. I was rescued by a Yoruba girl who helped me escape.”

More Victims Still Trapped

Michael Emeka Onwuchekwa, President of the Nigerian Community in Côte d’Ivoire, painted a grim picture of the situation, saying over 200 Nigerian girls—many of them minors—remain trapped in illegal gold-mining camps.

He claimed that it was his community’s Rapid Response Team, not Ivorian authorities, that ventured deep into forest settlements to extract some of the victims.

“We’ve buried many Nigerian girls here. They’re married off or sold to miners. Since I took office, we’ve rescued over 1,550 girls. But more are out there,” Onwuchekwa said.

He urged the Nigerian government to focus on securing its porous borders and monitor trafficking routes to West African countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana, which have become trafficking hubs.

Border Security Under Scrutiny

Otse (VeryDarkMan) urged authorities to prioritize border policing beyond the seizure of contraband goods. “Over 500 girls are trafficked daily through our borders. We must do more than chase smugglers. We must protect our children.”

Medical Screening Begins Today

Air Peace confirmed that medical screening for the returnees will begin at Duchess Hospital on Monday morning. Onyema said the choice of a premium facility was deliberate to restore the girls’ dignity.

“They deserve the best. They’ve been through hell, and this is the least we can do to make them feel human again,” he said.

A Call for Sustained Action

As the nation welcomes these survivors home, all eyes are on the federal government and NAPTIP to sustain the rescue efforts and dismantle the trafficking networks operating across West Africa. The return of these 78 girls is just a step in what remains a long and painful battle against one of the darkest forms of modern slavery.

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