Suspects A woman and her husband have been arrested for attempting to bribe Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, with two million naira to enable the woman continue running facilities where underaged girls are being forced into sex slavery.
The suspect, Mrs Ekpereamaka Okonkwor, who hails from Otolo Nnewi, operated as "Madam Padded" while in Nnewi, and later relocated to Oba, where she operated as "Ukwu Venza".
While at Nnewi, the woman was said to be collecting money for the services the girls rendered to men at her brothel, and on one occasion, three girls she locked inside a room to prevent them from meeting men and collecting money at her back were burnt to death.
Police preliminary investigation then, however revealed that the suspect, Mrs Okonkwor, was just a bar owner, and that the three victims who lost their lives were just waiters in a restaurant and bar joint not prostitutes as alleged.
Accusing fingers were also pointed at the woman over a video that went viral recently, in which underaged girls were found at a brothel in Oba, with some visibly pregnant.
Narrating the incident, Mrs Obinabo explained that the suspect went into hiding after the Oba incident, but later resurfaced through her husband, through whom she offered to bribe the Commissioner with the two million naira; with initial payment of three hundred thousand naira to "water ground" for the deal.
She said that after informing relevant authorities about the bribe offer, she played along with the woman and her husband as instructed, and later met them outside the state where they were eventually arrested.
The Commissioner, who stated that the matter will be charged to court upon completion of police investigation, appealed to people doing similar jobs in the state to desist forthwith, warning that the Governor Chukwuma Soludo's administration is determined to extinguish such evil.
She also stated that the woman suspect will be used to get the girls at the Oba brothel for necessary rehabilitation.
However, the suspect gave her name as Chioma Okeke and denied running a brothel with underaged girls.
Category: World-News
Tag: Anambra news
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 6/28/2023 2:42:45 AM