The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
(NAPTIP) yesterday arraigned an Abu Dhabi-based lady, Rita Ani, before
Justice Yusuf Halilu of an FCT High Court sitting in Maitama.
25-year-old Rita Ani, who hails from Enugu State, allegedly belongs
to a network of Nigerian traffickers based in Abu Dhabi who engage
Nigerian girls in international prostitution in the UAE.
She was arraigned alongside her elder sister, Ngozi (also known as
Princess), Ozigi Abdulkarim, and Princewill James on a ten-count charge
bordering on conspiracy and human trafficking.
The defendants were recently arrested by operatives of NAPTIP in two operations in Gwarimpa, Abuja and Ibadan, Oyo State.
The offences, according to NAPTIP, are contrary to Sections 13, 14,
18 and 26(b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and
Administration Act, 2015.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The counsel to Rita Ani and her sister did not file a formal
application for their bail and, as a result, they were remanded in
prison.
The judge had earlier turned down their lawyer’s oral request that the sisters be remanded in NAPTIP custody.
Messrs. Abdulkarim and James were, however, granted bail following
their lawyer’s application on the conditions that they must provide two
Sureties each who must not be below the rank of a Director in the Public
Service in Abuja and who must own a house each in Abuja.
They must also show proof of being in service by presenting their letters of first appointment and last promotion.
The case was subsequently adjourned to September 13 for hearing.
Rita Ani had returned home from Abu Dhabi to perform her traditional
marriage rites preparatory to moving to the United Kingdom with her
fiancé and was arrested in Ibadan by the newly established NAPTIP- Rapid
Response Squad (NAPTIP-RRS), the agency said.
The lid on the suspects was blown when one of their alleged victims
returned from Abu Dhabi after four months of forced prostitution “under
very excruciating conditions including flogging and the insertion of hot
boiling ring into her vagina when she does not make enough money a day
and forceful collection of the proceeds of the prostitution from her by
Rita Ani,” said NAPTIP.
The victim (name withheld) who is 19 years old was allegedly
recruited from Gwarimpa, Abuja by her ex-boyfriend, Abdulkarim, the
elder Ms. Ani, and Mr. James for onward transfer to Ms. Ani in Abu Dhabi
all of whom are all defendants in the case.
According to NAPTIP, they prepared her travel documents, took her to
Ogbomoso, Oyo State, where a fetish oath was administered on her before
the journey.