Teenager’s escape exposes alleged network targeting vulnerable girls in Lagos

A harrowing tale of human trafficking, torture, and forced prostitution has emerged from the heart of Lagos Island, after a 16-year-old girl escaped a notorious sex syndicate operating out of a multi-story building in Balogun Market.

The victim, identified as Chidinma, narrated her ordeal at the Lagos State Police Command, detailing how she was lured from Imo State with false promises of a legitimate office job, only to be subjected to unspeakable violence and sexual exploitation.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, confirmed that the illicit operation was blown wide open after a “good Samaritan” found the severely injured teenager wandering near the Surulere area and took her to the Bode Thomas Police Station. Investigators have since dismantled part of the cartel, arresting two suspects and rescuing 13 underage girls.

Back home in Imo State, Chidinma was an apprentice learning catering and baking, hoping to build a future for herself. Her life took a dark turn when 28-year-old Princess Andrew allegedly approached her with an offer to move to Lagos.

“She never told me the work I was coming to do,” Chidinma wept as she spoke to journalists. “She only said, ‘You are coming to serve in the office.’ But upon my arrival at a tall building inside Balogun market in Lagos Island, my madam stripped me of my clothes, leaving me in only my underwear. There were many other young ladies there. She told us to stand by the door while she dragged men inside.”

Chidinma alleged that she was forced to ingest a strange “blue drug” that left her permanently disoriented and compliant. Under the influence of the narcotics, she was subjected to relentless sexual abuse.

“I slept with no fewer than 30 men daily. But sometimes, it was up to 60 men in a single day,” she revealed.

While the clients paid between ₦5,000 and ₦10,000 per session to the ringleader, Chidinma was only given a pittance of ₦1,000 or ₦1,500 just to buy food.

READ ALSO: 14-year-old girl, others rescued from sex traffickers in Ogun

The teenage girl recounted a regime of extreme violence used to keep the victims compliant. She explained that when she begged clients to use protection, they would report her to her “madam,” triggering brutal retaliation.

“She would drag me into a room and beat me with an iron rod until I bled. She punched me severely in the stomach, knowing fully well that I had previously undergone a medical operation,” Chidinma said.

Pointing to her left eye, she added, “There was a time she punched my eye so hard that for one week, I could not see anything with it.”

The victims were entirely cut off from the outside world. “I could not reach out to my family because I didn’t have a phone. The other girls had their phones seized so they couldn’t alert their relatives,” she explained.

The breaking point came when a client booked Chidinma and another girl for an overnight stay. Suffering from severe physical trauma and pain in her private parts, Chidinma cried out, prompting the suspect to threaten her life with a knife and smash her head against a wall. Fearing for her life, she managed to slip out of the building into the Lagos night.

Chidinma navigated her way to Costain, where a sympathetic passenger on a bus assisted her in reaching Surulere. There, a popcorn vendor spotted her distressed state and escorted her to the Bode Thomas Police Division.

“When the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) saw me, she immediately ordered that I be taken to the hospital for treatment,” Chidinma said. “The DPO was shocked to learn my real age. She said I looked 21 because of how damaged my body was. I am just tired. I want to go back to my catering work. I was almost done learning it.”

The alleged trafficker, Princess Andrew, who hails from Delta State, strongly denied the accusations when paraded by the police. She insisted that Chidinma was fully aware of the nature of the business and lied about her age to the authorities.