LAGOS — There wasn’t a dry eye at the Lagos State Police Command yesterday as a 16-year-old girl, Chidinma, poured out her heart, recounting four months of unimaginable horror. Trafficked from Imo State under the guise of a job offer, she was instead plunged into a life of forced prostitution, servicing dozens of men daily, enduring savage beatings, and never seeing a kobo of the money her body generated.
The teenager, who had been learning baking in her hometown, said a woman she once trusted completely sold her a dream of a better life in Lagos. “She never told me what I was coming to do,” Chidinma told journalists, her voice trembling. “She just said, ‘You’re coming to work in an office.'” But upon arrival at a towering building inside Balogun Market on Lagos Island, her world crumbled. “My madam stripped me naked, leaving only my panties. Other young girls were there too. She made us stand by the door, and she would drag men inside.”
Chidinma described being given a strange blue substance that left her dazed and disoriented. “I slept with no fewer than 30 men every single day. Some days, it climbed to 60.” Clients paid between ₦5,000 and ₦10,000 per session, but she was tossed a paltry ₦1,000 or ₦1,500—barely enough for a meal. Any attempt to insist on protection backfired. “If a man refused to use a condom and reported me, my madam would drag me into a room and beat me with an iron rod till I bled. She punched my stomach repeatedly, even though she knew I had an operation there.”
Pointing to her left eye, she added, “She hit me so hard there once. For a whole week, I couldn’t see out of this eye.”
Her eventual escape was born out of sheer desperation. After yet another brutal night, when pain in her private parts made further abuse unbearable, she refused to go on. “My madam slammed my head against a wall,” Chidinma recalled. “That night, a man had booked me and another girl. I slipped away when she threatened me with a knife for complaining.” Wandering the streets, she made her way to Costain, where a kind stranger on a bus took her to Surulere. There, a popcorn seller directed her to the Bode Thomas Police Division.
It was there that the Divisional Police Officer took one look at her and ordered immediate medical care. “The DPO was shocked—she thought I was 21, but I’m only 16,” Chidinma said. “I’m not the only one there. Other girls are still trapped. Our phones were seized so we couldn’t call our families.” Now desperate to return to her baking apprenticeship, she pleaded, “I’m tired. I just want to go back to my catering work. I was almost done with it.”
The Accused Fights Back
Princess Andrew, the 28-year-old Delta State woman accused of trafficking Chidinma, has dismissed the allegations as lies. Speaking to reporters, Andrew insisted she’s not a madam but a solo sex worker. “I’ve been working on my own since February. Nobody works for me. I only helped her find a place to stay after she arrived,” she claimed. She also challenged Chidinma’s age, saying, “She’s lying—she’ll be 21 this year. I knew her back in Delta when she was pregnant. She took my money, and I used my cane to discipline her. That’s all.”
Police Raid and Rescue
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Tijani, personally stormed the Balogun Market brothel yesterday with journalists in tow. He revealed that the operation was triggered by the Good Samaritan who rescued Chidinma and brought her to the station. According to Tijani, the syndicate specifically preys on vulnerable children aged 13 to 15. “So far, we believe about 30 girls have passed through this cartel. We’ve arrested two suspects and rescued 13 underage victims,” he announced.